Fortification of extruded product with brown seaweed (Sargassum tenerrimum) and its process optimization by Response Surface Methodology.

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to develop an extruded product fortified with seaweed (Sargassum tenerrimum) using a co-rotating twin screw extruder and to optimize the process parameters using response surface methodology. The Box–Behnken design was employed with three independent variables i.e. feed moisture (X₁), Sargassum powder level (X₂) and barrel temperature (X₃) with three levels for designing the experiment. The expansion ratio and porosity were considered as response variables. Feed moisture had the most significant (p < 0.05) linear effect on both the response variables whereas Sargassum level and barrel temperature shown significant (p < 0.05) quadratic effect. The optimum level of independent variables i.e. feed moisture, Sargassum level and barrel temperature for maximum expansion ratio were 16.45%, 4.33% and 123.08 °C respectively whereas for maximum porosity were 16.06%, 4.51% and 124.04 °C respectively. The present investigation can be used to develop extruded products fortified with seaweeds as functional food using the optimized process condition as a means to increase the nutritional quality of the traditional extruded snacks which is considered as a junk food.