COMPOSITION AND QUALITY OF RICE FLOUR–FISH MINCE BASED EXTRUDED PRODUCTS WITH EMPHASIS ON THERMAL PROPERTIES OF RICE FLOUR

Abstract

ABSTRACT Extruded products with rice flour and ribbonfish mince mixture were prepared using a twin‐screw extruder with varying barrel temperatures, and the quality of the final product was evaluated. The optimum process conditions, as revealed by organoleptic evaluation for acceptable final products, included a barrel temperature of 90C and fish mince concentration of 10%. The amino acid composition of final extruded product revealed a higher content of lysine, glutamic acid and leucine. The increase in expansion ratio and water absorption capacity of extrudate with 10% fish mince was significantly ( P < 0.05) influenced by barrel temperature. The breaking strength of the extrudate increased significantly ( P < 0.05) with addition of 20% fish mince. The differential scanning calorimetric studies of rice flour indicated the peak value of endothermic transition at 64.73C, which is specific for short grain rice flour. The dynamic rheological testing of rice flour solution (10%) indicated gelatinization temperature at 63.3C. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Extruded food products are widely used as snack products. Usually, extruded products are prepared using cereal flour, which have less protein content and are limited in some essential amino acid. In order to increase the nutritive value of such products, the incorporation of protein‐rich fish mince is important. Preparation of extruded products using cereal flours incorporating fish mince, without compromising the quality of the final product, would help to improve their nutritional quality. Hence, the present investigation aimed at preparing extruded products using rice flour with added ribbonfish mince. Barrel temperature and the percentage of fish mince for the preparation of extruded products were optimized in order to commercialize such snack foods. This will help to enrich the nutritive value of the rice flour‐based extruded products, which are widely used in developing countries.