CHARACTERIZATION OF FOOD BARS MANUFACTURED WITH AGROINDUSTRIAL BY-PRODUCTS AND WASTE

Food bars are products obtained from the union of a number of components, standing out in the snack category due to their portability attribute with a focus on convenience and health. Utilization of by-products and agroindustrial food waste as ingredients in the making of food bars is highly important due to the utilization of leftovers of marked nutritional and functional value and decrease of the production cost. This work intended to evaluate the chemical and physicochemical aspects of food bars made with the by-products broken rice (BR) and pequi nut (PN), soybean extract residue (SER), and pineapple waste (PW). Distinct proportions of BR: SER respectively were used, amounting to five treatments: 1:0 (A); 3:1 (B); 1:1 (C); 1:3 (D) and 0:1(E) and fixed amounts of the other components. For the statistical analysis, variance analysis and the Tukey test were performed to 5% significance. The moisture, protein, lipid, ash, mineral, and dietary fiber contents were directly increased as the SER was increased and the amount of BR was decreased. However, the opposite was found with both carbohydrates and calories. The soluble solids, pH and water activity values presented increases with the increased soybean extract residue. All the treatments presented slightly acidic pH and water activity bellow 0.6, favoring microbiological safety. In the chemical score, treatment A presented lysine as the limiting aminoacid in relation to the Food and Agriculture Organization - FAO/WHO reference (1990). The food bars can be considered rich in dietary fiber and with considerable nutritional support. Treatments D and E proved better in the set of the variables studied for human consumption.