Recipient Organization
COLLEGE OF MICRONESIA
PO BOX 1179
KOLONIA POHNPEI,FM 96941
Performing Department
COLLEGE ADMINISTRATION
Non Technical Summary
Micronesia's subsistence economies are very tied to breadfruit consumption, because it is an important food crop in this region. In RMI it can be prepared in a wide variety of ways, some as simple as roasting directly on hot coals and others entailing elaborate cooking, pounding, and embellishment with coconut cream. Breadfruit is an excellent source of carbohydrates, proteins and lipids that has been used into many forms. However, it is limited for the poor storage properties of the fresh fruit. Conversion into flour would provide a more stable storage form as well as increasing its versatility. Knowledge on making flour and the starch, one of the primary components, is a prerequisite for exploring new uses of breadfruit. The breadfruit flour has a high potential for using in food formulations such as doughs, soups, gravies and baked products. Therefore is important to analyze the functional properties like swelling index, peak viscosity (PV), breakdown viscosity (BV), final viscosity (FV), setback viscosity (SV), and pasting temperature (P temperature) to determine the best production method by preserving its nutritional value and giving alternatives to develop other kind of food products.The breadfruit flour will be processed using raw material from Majuro atoll and other outer islands of RMI region. In the process the pulp, core and peel will be extracted to develop flour. The experimental design will be conducted at two different drying temperatures and three different methods to cook the mature fruit. This will be done in order to find the best method to obtain flour without affecting the nutritional value. The proximate and pasting and microbiological analyses will be done to determine quality of the final product and assure food safety. The design of raw material specification, the flowchart of the process and trials are steps necessary for obtaining food product quality and safety. The project will mainly target but not be limited to the populated atolls of Marshall Islands with an aim to promote local food processing and sustainable livelihood that support food sanitary and safety standards. The result of this study will be disseminated in different forms of extension materials and conducted activities.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
50%
Applied
50%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
GoalDevelop a methodology for obtaining breadfruit flour, without affecting the nutritional composition, adhering to food safety and quality standards, improve the dietary habits and promote sustainable livelihood.ObjectivesTo develop locally available breadfruit flourTo develop the drying technology and pasting properties techniques for producing high quality breadfruit flour.To give alternatives using natural and local products with quality and safety standards.
Project Methods
Objective 1. The Local breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) variety to be used on this experiment will be Petaaktak. This seedless variety of breadfruit is the most popular one used as substitute for rice due to its superior quality and longer shelf life. The fruit is also bigger in size and starchier than the other varieties. To process breadfruit into flour, the method described by Akanbi et al. (2009) with some modifications will be followed. Peeled fruits will be washed and grated. The grated fruit will be suspended in 5 litters of water for 24 hours to allow the starch to come out of the fruit. The suspended fruit will be sieved using a muslin clothe with retained fiber. The fiber will be rewashed to remove adhering starch. The fiber will be was spread in the chamber drier trays and will be dried at different temperatures. The obtained dry fiber will be milled to powder, packaged and stored for analysis.Objective 2. Drying is one the best preservation methods of agricultural products by extending its shelf-life. Dried food products like flour can be used for food product development either individually or corporately into various food formulations as a functional food additive. Quality of dried flour depends on the type of drying, temperature used, duration, air velocity, tray loading and many other factors. An electric convention oven will be used in this study, and the sample will be dried rapidly at selected heating conditions (temperature, air flow rate and humidity).Pasting property is one of the most useful information for the flour and food processing industry, because it is important for the selection of the right varieties for specific processing characteristics and needs. The pasting profile has been significantly influenced by nature and source of flours, particle size, waxy or non-waxy contribution, additives and its interaction with the starches, processing techniques, and many more factors. Additionally, a designed or desired pasting properties could be developed by mixing flours from different plant sources, controlling amylose to amylopectin or waxy to non-waxy starches to fulfill the industrial demand. (Ahmed, J. et al. 2017).Swelling power (SP) indicates the water holding capacity of a material that will help to determinate its quality. Flours that have high SP values can be applied to the manufacture of products such as noodles, vermicelli, and analog rice. Experimental procedure: For the experimental treatment several breadfruit samples will be selected. The drying temperature will be set in 2 different values, with three methods to cook the mature breadfruit. Samples will be positioned and expanded on trays in a uniform way. Three replicates will be made for each treatment. For the swelling power Experimental design: All experiments and analyses will be conducted in triplicate. Data obtained from different study of drying temperature and swelling power will be subjected to analysis of Paired-samples T test. Statistica Software will be used for all the analyses.Objective 3. The proximate analysis and pasting properties will be determined during the production process, and with the final product in order to control the quality and establish the nutritional label. The samples of the final product will be microbiologically analyzed using the total plate count (TPC) to determine the hygienic quality and food safety.