Foods of plant origin do not provide complete nutrients individually that can promote optimum consumer growth. These food sources may be deficient in one or more essential nutrients for the human body. In Pakistan, wheat is considered a staple food, and most of the population is dependent on wheat as a major source of diet around the year, which results in nutritional deficiencies. The current study was designed to produce wheat and pulses composite flour to improve nutritional status. The pulses used for fortification were black gram, green gram, soya bean, and chickpea. These pulses were converted into flour by grinding and flour were chemically analyzed like moisture content, crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, total phenolic and mineral contents. The higher protein content was examined in soybean followed by chickpea, respectively. The higher mineral (potassium) content were found in green grams as compared to other pulses. The composite flour was made by using all pulses with different level. Furthermore, the results indicated that the composite flour significantly increased the nutritional profile. The higher protein and the higher mineral (potassium) content were observed in T2 treatment. On the basis of these results it was concluded that the composite flour can enhance the nutritional profile of pulses.

Keywords: Soyabean, malnutrition, pulses, nutritional profile, chickpea.

Hydrocolloids are polysaccharides that are frequently utilized as stabilizing, gelling, suspending, and thickening agents. The study aimed to investigate the impact of various hydrocolloids on tomato ketchup's nutritional, rheological, and organoleptic properties. After extraction of tomato pulp, ketchup (a value-added tomato product) was prepared using starch, guar gum, CMC, and pectin as hydrocolloids at a level of 2%, 2%, 2%, and 2% respectively. The proximate composition results of different tomato ketchup treatments indicated that guar gum ketchup showed significant nutritional quality with the highest protein content of 3.66±0.006. The results regarding physiochemical analysis of different tomato ketchup treatments revealed that during storage, the pH of tomato ketchup decreased, the acidic flavor increased, TSS decreased and the overall textural profile decreased with the increase in storage time. Moreover, innovative chocolate showed higher antioxidant activity as compared to control in different storage intervals. In addition, ketchup prepared with hydrocolloids showed higher sensory scores as compared to the control sample. The findings suggest that hydrocolloids are used in ketchup to improve its nutritional value and rheological, and organoleptic properties.

The quality of food goods and consumer acceptability are significantly influenced by color. Water-soluble phenolic natural colorants called anthocyanins give food products their red, blue, and purple hues. The study aimed to extract and use water-soluble anthocyanins from the peel of pomegranates. Water was used as a solvent to extract anthocyanin to accomplish the goal. The response surface approach was used to improve the extraction conditions at various extraction temperatures and times to maximize anthocyanin production by using antioxidant potential and total phenolic contents as response variables. Anthocyanin was extracted under the ideal extraction conditions (75°C for 140 minutes), and watermelon jam was then made using this extract. The results showed that the optimal extraction conditions produced the highest yield of water-soluble anthocyanin. Pomegranate peel extract showed anthocyanins antioxidant activity using DPPH and ABTS, while total phenolics were also found. The physio-chemical characteristics of watermelon jam enhanced with anthocyanins aqueous extract revealed a titrable acidity of 8.6±0.023% and a maximum vitamin content of 0.93±4.713 mg/ml, while TSS displayed 20.2±0.2? Brix and pH of 3.1±0.1. according to the judges' sensory evaluation, the watermelon jam enriched with anthocyanin aqueous extract was deemed highly acceptable. The study's findings suggest that water-soluble anthocyanin can be used to create a variety of industrially produced food items.

The banana (Musa sapientum) ranks as the fourth most important fruit crop in the world and is widely grown in tropical and subtropical regions. It contains carbohydrates, fiber, protein, vitamin B2, vitamin B3, vitamin C, fat, phosphorus, calcium, iron, and ß-carotene. However, despite the crop's high nutritional value and growing demand, commercial cultivation is challenged by the lack of efficient postharvest storage facilities. This study aimed to investigate the impact of different postharvest treatments on the shelf-life extension and quality attributes of banana, and the physicochemical changes during storage and ripening. The present study consisted of five treatments including T0 (control), T1 (Fungicide; Dithane 0.2%), T2 (Hot Water; 55°C), T3 (Calcium Chloride; 2%), and T4 (Calcium Chloride; 4%). Physicochemical analysis including total soluble solids (TSS), pH, and total titratable acidity (TTA) was done to monitor the banana’s shelf-life extension. The phytochemical analysis includes total phenolic content and microbial analysis includes total plate count, disease incidence, and disease severity was determined at an interval of 5 days to evaluate for the period of 15 days. The highest pH was observed at 6.43±0.04 for T0, the highest total soluble solids were observed at 4.5±0.1 for T4, and the highest titratable acidity was 0.47±0.03 for T4. The highest total phenolic content was observed at 151.2±0.04 and the highest firmness was observed at 6.00±0.9 for T4, and the lowest total plate count was showed at 3.3±0.2 in T1. The lowest disease incidence and disease severity were observed in T1 at 12.56±0.01 and 1.02±0.02 respectively. Sensory analysis was conducted using 9-point hedonic scale to evaluate consumer acceptance.

Malnutrition is an imbalance of energy and nutrients that is shown from physical status of children and adults. According to the WHO, more than 20 million children are severely malnourished under the age of five. In Pakistan, half of all children under the age of five are stunted and one in every ten infants is wasted. Malnutrition can be improved by fortification in food items with natural ingredients. Therefore, the present study was carried out to prepare nutritionally enriched biscuits by using wheat flour, chickpea, lentil and maize flour in different concentrations. The study was performed in the lab of Food Science & Technology, Volka Foods International (R & D lab) and Central Hi-Tech lab of MNS-University of Agriculture, Multan. The raw material was analyzed to determine macro and micro components. Afterwards, biscuits was prepared and analyzed for their nutritional composition like crude fiber, crude fat, crude protein, moisture, ash content and mineral (Fe & Zn) contents. “T5” (60% wheat+20% chickpea+20% maize) was best in term of protein content, “T10” best in term of fat content. Results showed that, hardness of biscuits decreased during storage days (1st, 7th and 14th days) while moisture content of biscuits increased with the time. Treatment “T9” color values was l* (63.85±0.937), a* (8.53±0.870) and b* (27.30±0.740) showed better result in case of color analysis. According to the result, “T6 and T9” showed better result in case of sensory characteristics like color, appearance, flavor, taste, aroma, texture and overall acceptability of biscuits. Concentration of 60% wheat flour, 20% chickpea flour and 20% lentil flour (T6) showed better results in term of color, flavor and overall acceptability while concentration of 50% wheat flour, 20% chickpea flour, 20% maize flour and 10% lentil flour (T9) was best in case of appearance, aroma, texture and taste in biscuits. Overall results showed that, T9 (Wheat flour 50%, Chickpea flour 20%, maize flour 20% and lentil flour 10%) had the best results compared to the other treatments. Sensory scores and moisture% both decreased significantly during storage study.