Sensory Assessment of Nutraceutical-Enriched Muffins and Pudina Chutney

Abstract

Aims: Dyslipidemia is widely recognized as a major risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease. In India, it affects approximately 25–30% of the urban population and 15–20% of the rural population. Several generally used food ingredients bear the anti-hyperlipidemic properties which have been used by the dyslipidemic patients as medicine. But the incorporating these ingredients in the form of mixture in daily based food items is rare. Methodology: A nutraceutical-enriched mixture comprising was formulated and standardized for the study. Two commonly consumed recipes were selected and each recipe was modified by incorporating developed nutraceutical enriched mixture at five to six graded levels. A panel of 15 members conducted sensory evaluation, assessing sensory attributes such as color, appearance, taste, aroma, texture and overall acceptability. To achieve the desirable and most favourable sensory parameters, the proportion of nutraceutical enriched mixture was systematically increased across all recipes to identify the level that yielded the most desirable and acceptable sensory characteristics. Results: The result indicates that the addition of enriched mixture at the designated incorporation level led to significant improvement (p≤0.05) in the sensory profile of muffins and pudina chutney on the grounds of color, taste, texture, aroma, appearance and overall acceptability surpassing the control sample in the terms of color, appearance, taste, aroma and texture. Conclusion: This study developed a nutraceutical-enriched mixture and incorporated it into muffins and pudina chutney, resulting in significantly improved sensory attributes including taste, texture, and overall acceptability. While the enriched products demonstrated enhanced organoleptic properties, the presence of claimed nutraceuticals must be analytically confirmed to validate potential health benefits. Future research will focus on biochemical analysis to substantiate these findings.