Filipa R. Pinto1, Daniela Belén1, Sónia Barroso1 and Maria M. Gil1,2
1 MARE – Centro de Ciências do Mar e do Ambiente / ARNET – Aquatic Research Network, ESTM, Politécnico de Leiria;
2 MARE / ARNET, School of Tourism and Maritime Technology, Polytechnic of Leiria;
The importance of nutrition in the prevention of chronic diseases requires the search for new food ingredients of natural origin that promote health and enrich the human diet with vitamins, minerals, fibers and polyunsaturated fatty acids of sustainable origin. Pasta is a nutritious option appropriate for incorporation of these ingredients, since they respond to the food consumption trends of easy preparation, parallel to the fact of presenting complete nutritional quality to the general consumption needs. In this work, an innovative range of dry pasta incorporating algae (Chlorella sp. and Gracillaria sp.) was developed, to encourage adequate food consumption and consequent improvement of nutritional status of citizens, with a direct impact on the prevention of chronic pathologies and on improving the consume welfare.
After developing the algae-enriched products, a sensory analysis was performed to find the best formulation. Then, protein, vitamins and elements content were assessed. Pasta with algae provided high mineral and vitamin contents, so that could bear nutritional claims: vitamin A (155.54µg/100g), vitamin B1 (0.18mg/100g), vitamin B12 (1.09µg/100g), zinc (1.58mg/100g), selenium (9.48mg/100g), phosphorus (209.68mg/100g), iron (4.64mg/100g), iodine (3.1mg/100g)[1][2]. The addition of algae also allowed to obtain 9.21g of protein/100g pasta.
Additionally, consumer liking of different sensory attributes was measured. Appearance, colour, texture, odour and taste were assessed by consumers, using a 7-point hedonic scale with extremes ranging from “really disliked” and “really liked”.
Besides the nutritional potential, the developed pasta also showed very good overall sensorial acceptance and purchase intent prevailed in scores 5 and 6 (35% in both).
[1] Regulation (EC) N◦ 1924/2006 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTE AND OF THE COUNCIL of 20 December 2006 on nutrition and health claims made on foods.
[2] Regulation (EU) N◦ 1169/2011 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers.
Acknowledgements:
Authors are grateful to FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) for the financial support attributed to MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Polytechnic of Leiria (UIDB/04292/2020 and UIDP/04292/2020) and the project LA/P/0069/2020 granted to the Associate Laboratory ARNET. This work was financially supported by project HP4A – HEALTHY PASTA FOR ALL (co-promotion no. 039952), co-funded by ERDF – European Regional Development Fund, under the Portugal 2020 Regional Development Fund, under the Portugal 2020 Programme, through COMPETE 2020 – Competitiveness and Competitiveness and Internationalisation Operational Programme.