Abstract:
Most commercial energy bars contain high levels of added sugars, refined syrups, and
fats. Regular consumption of such products contributes to excessive calorie intake and
increases the risk of non-communicable diseases. This study aimed to developed a
date-based energy bar incorporated with dehydrated banana chips without the
addition of sugar and salt. Dates, bananas, rice flakes, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds,
peanuts, mung beans, coconut oil, and banana flavor were used as ingredients. Three
formulations were developed by varying the proportion of date paste and dehydrated
banana chips and other ingredients were kept constant across all treatments. The
formulations were evaluated for proximate composition, color parameters, microbial
safety, and sensory attributes. According to the results, crude protein, crude fat, and
dietary fiber contents ranged from 9.99-10.06%, 6.71-6.75%, and 6.99-7.165
respectively. However, ash and sugar contents showed significant differences among
the treatments, ranging from 1.58-1.68% and 17.20-19.00% respectively. Moisture
content, color and total plate count (TPC) were monitored throughout 21 days of the
storage period room temperature (28±2 °C). Moisture content and color values
increased significantly during storage. However, T1 exhibited the lowest moisture
increase (12.24-13.37%) compared to T2 (15.13-19.03%) and T3 (12.72%-14.86%).
T1 demonstrated the stable physiochemical properties, retaining the redness (a*)
value (7.36 ± 0.19) by the third week of storage. T1 remained microbiologically safe
during storage, with a final TPC of 1.0 × 104 CFU/g, well below the acceptable limit of
1.0 × 106 CFU/g. Sensory evaluation concluded that the T1 formulation provides
favorable physical stability and sensory acceptability.
