Effect of vitamins and zinc fortification on sensory properties and nutritional value in a functional biscuit

Abstract

Abstract Biscuits are a popular baked food product known for their extended shelf life. Fortification with essential vitamins and minerals becomes imperative to enhance their nutritional values. This study aimed to enrich a functional biscuit with key nutrients, including vitamins C, D, and E, as well as the mineral zinc. A sensory parameter was examined by performing 9 point-hedonic scales for color, aroma, taste, and overall liking test, showing 1 as the lowest liking score, and 9 as the highest liking value. Proximate, vitamins and mineral analyses were performed to study the macro- and micronutrient content of the biscuits. The findings demonstrated that fortification with vitamins and minerals did not significantly alter the sensory attributes of the functional biscuit (P >0.05). This study found that color, aroma, taste, and overall impression exhibited trivial variations (P >0.05)) between the original and fortified biscuits, with scores of 5.55 vs. 5.50, 6.68 vs. 6.59, 6.09 vs. 5.95, and 6.18 vs. 6.00, respectively. Importantly, the study effectively increased the nutritional content of the biscuit through fortification per serving size of 35 g, 0.00 vs 2.36 mcg, 0.95 vs 5.84 mg, 0.00 vs 39.31 mg, and 0.90 vs 7.47 mg for vitamin C, D, E, and zinc, respectively. This study also showed the total energy, protein, carbohydrate, and fat content for each serving size of the original and fortified biscuits, resulting in 160.01 vs 161.92 kcal, 2.69 vs 2.67 g, 21.11 vs 21.70 g, and 7.20 vs 7.16 g, respectively. In conclusion, fortifying vitamins and zinc in the functional biscuit effectively heightened its nutritional profile of vitamins and minerals, while sensory properties remained largely unaffected.