Nutritional and Sensory Profiling of Protein-fortified Cassava-wheat Composite Biscotti/Rusk

Abstract

Aims: To investigate the nutritional enhancement, protein fortification, and sensory acceptability of cassava-wheat composite biscotti/rusk. Study Design: Response surface method based Box–Behnken design. Methodology: Response Surface Methodology (RSM) based Box-Behnken Design (BBD) with three variables at three levels resulting15 experimental runs was employed to establish the optimal levels of selected processing parameters on responses of cassava-wheat biscotti/rusk in this study. Second-order polynomial was obtained from regression analysis to determine the relationship between the independent and dependent (responses) variables. To ensure the accuracy of optimized models, the validation experiments were repeated three times according to central and optimal levels of selected independent variables. Results: This study confirmed the significant impact of selected independent variables such as cassava flour, WWF, and WPC on responses like starch, total sugars, protein, fat content, micronutrients, and sensory characteristics. The regression models for protein and starch content were found excellent in this study for prediction due to the quality of their predicted r-squared. The optimized protein-enriched biscotti/rusk production was determined as cassava flour:60 g, WWF:35g, and WPC:10 g. Compared to the control rusk (refined wheat flour made), the optimized protein-enriched biscotti/rusk showed 50 % higher protein, whereas starch, fat, sugar, and micronutrients were found on par. Furthermore, the incorporation of WPC a highly acceptable protein additive indicated an overall improvement in nutritional and sensory attributes of biscotti/rusk products in this study which confirmed a significant assured predictor for influencing purchase intent. Conclusion: In this study, cassava flour and whole wheat flour are explored to substitute refined wheat flour to develop biscotti/rusk with improved nutritional attributes. Incorporation of whey protein concentrate a highly acceptable protein additive indicated overall improvement in nutritional attributes of biscotti/rusk product in this study confirmed significant assured predictor for influencing purchase intent