ABSTRACT:
Non-communicable diseases are the leading cause of death around the world according to WHO, with developing countries in the top of the list. The rise in lifestyle diseases can be blamed on tobacco use, poor diet and harmful use of alcohol. Main factors leading to emerging lifestyle diseases are- urbanization, changes in diet, reduction in physical activity, westernization of food system and shifting of food preferences from nutritious healthy food to high energy food products. In the presence research, a nutrient augmented food additive powder which could be used as a nutrition supplement was prepared. This powder can be added to ready-to-cook packages to fortify the nutrient condition of the same. For the development of powder main ingredients were minor millets, pulses, vegetables and nuts rich in fiber, protein, micronutrients and bioactive compounds. The composition of ingredients in additive was decided by preliminary sensory analysis. The developed food additive powder was added to two branded ready-to-cook products viz., soup and noodles. The statistical analysis revealed that the soup and noodles with the food additive was liked by 50-70% of the consumers tested. The food additive was also analyzed for crude fiber, protein, fat, carbohydrate and moisture content. Among these protein (18%) and fiber (5.5%) content was found to be significant. It was further tested for minerals like Magnesium, Calcium, Potassium, Sulphur, and Phosphorus which were found to be 31.35%, 22.3%, 31.28% and 8.7% respectively of % RDA value for Indians. Among the vitamins, Vitamin A was found to be 9.18 mcg/100g of the sample.