Neelam UpadhyayALOK AHALE2023-12-062023-12-062022https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810202256Consumer demand is slowly turning towards safe, functional, nutritious and complete food as health consciousness amongst en masse is rising. The eating habit of people is shifting towards cuisines that are not only fast to prepare but also nutritious. Fortification is one of the most effective tools for addressing the problem of nutritional deficiencies and thus contributing to India’s progress towards achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of ‘ending all forms of malnutrition by 2030'. One such attempt to enhance the functional properties of processed cheese spread was made by incorporating Moringa oleifera in the form of its pods. In the present investigation, scaled up production of functional processed cheese spread (FPCS) was carried out and its characterization was done in terms of proximate, physico-chemical, bio-functional, rheological, textural attributes, besides sensorial and microbial analysis. The developed product was found to possess significantly higher (P<0.05) antioxidative, bio-functional attributes and iron content in comparison to the control (CPCS), while all the physico- chemical attributes (with an exception to TBA and FFA content) showed non-significant difference (P>0.05) amongst the developed product and control. The developed functional product was packed in polypropylene containers, kept for storage at 5⁰C and analyzed for various physico-chemical attributes, bio-functional, rheological, textural, sensorial and microbial parameters at an interval of 15 days. The prepared functional processed cheese spread had significantly (P<0.05) higher antioxidant activity and bio-functional attributes throughout storage period. This also was evident from lesser lipolytic (TBA, FFA), proteolytic (Tyrosine value and ICC), and microbiological (SPC, Yeast and Mold, coliform count) degradation of FPCS over CPCS. However, both these attributes decreased throughout the storage for control and developed product. Further, during storage, no significant (p<0.05) changes were observed in colour values of the product. Rheological parameters were also determined for changes throughout the storage and in both CPCS and FPCS, G' and G" increased throughout the storage indicating the dominance of solid behavior over viscous. FPCS had microbial counts under the safety limits prescribed by FSSR (2021) till 157th day of storage, while for CPCS it was till 135th day indicating improved antimicrobial properties of FPCS. The functional processed cheese spread was found to be the best when consumed till 5 months after packaging, while control product showed a shelf life of 4 months. The cost and consumer acceptability of the functional processed cheese spread was carried out. The cost of FPCS was found to be Rs. 296.65 per 500g compared to Rs. 233.93 for CPCS with 26.81% cost increase. The functional processed cheese spread was served to 87 people belonging to different age groups, gender, region for consumer acceptability and it was interesting to observe that 24% rated FPCS as excellent, while 49% of consumers found product to be very good, and 27% rated the product as good.EnglishThesis