Muhammad Hassan
M.Sc. (Hons) Food technology,University of Agriculture, Faisalabad.
Title: Use of Agro-Industrial Wastes: An Effort to Preserve Food & Agriculture Products
Biography
Biography: Muhammad Hassan
Abstract
The current study was an attempt to explore the antioxidative potential of phenolics from agroindustrial by-products and their further utilization in oil and baked items as natural antioxidants. Accordingly, apple, banana, citrus & potato peels along with carrot pomace were tested for the extraction of phenolics using methanol, ethanol and hexane as solvents. Among the solvents methanol and ethanol were selected as efficient extracting mediums. Citrus peel followed by potato peel extract showed relative high pH stability. Likewise, citrus peel extract showed highest total phenolics of 16.84g/100g whereas DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) activity was maximum in potato peel extract i.e. 78.69g/100g. Afterwards, citrus peel and carrot pomace extracts were screened for their preserving effect in vegetable oils during two month storage. The effect of phenolics was estimated by peroxide value (POV) and thiobarbituric acid (TBA) number. As a function of treatment and storage, minimum values for these traits were recorded for citrus peel methanolic extract. In this context, POV in corn, cotton and sunflower oils were 10.06, 12.06 and 4.09meq/Kg, respectively, whereas TBA values were 5.90, 4.33 and 2.79MAD/Kg, respectively. Afterwards, baked products including cookies and cakes with 0.1% citrus peel and carrot pomacemethanolic extract were prepared and subjected to sensory evaluation. The upshots of instant investigation revealed that phenolic contents from selected agro-industrial by-products especially citrus peel methanolic extract has potential to be utilized in food products without any deleterious effect on end product. This mere effort can support Pakistan economy in an efficient way by focusing on neglected areas of agriculture processing industry.