Sustainable production of naturally colored extruded breakfast cereals from blends of broken rice and vegetable flours

• Published in: Food research international Vol. 172; p. 113078
• Main Authors: Guilherme Sebastião, Victor, Batista, Daniel, Rebellato, Ana Paula, Alves Macedo, Juliana, Steel, Caroline Joy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2023
• Subjects: Antioxidant capacity; Breakfast cereals; Colored extrudates; Dietary fiber; Extrusion; Sustainability; Vegetable flours; Breakfast cereals; Sustainability; Vegetable flours; Antioxidant capacity; Extrusion; Colored extrudates; Dietary fiber
• ISSN: 0963-9969; 1873-7145
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2023.113078

[Display omitted] •Vegetables unsuitable for the market can be used to produce vegetable flours.•The use of 10% vegetable flours provided a natural color to extruded products.•The presence of fibers affected technological properties of the extrudates.•Vegetable flours can provide nutritional and functional enrichment to extrudates.•The extrusion process can be used to obtain higher added value breakfast cereals. There is a growing demand for practical and healthy food products. Obtaining naturally colored breakfast cereals with the incorporation of functional ingredients is a promising alternative for consumers that are looking for healthiness. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of using vegetable flours, rich in pigments, to obtain naturally colored breakfast cereals through thermoplastic extrusion. Vegetables considered “unsuitable for the retail market”, classified as “type B”, were used to prepare different flours from carrot (CF), spinach (SF) and beetroot (BF). Extrudates were produced from a mixture of 90% broken rice (BR) and 10% vegetable flour (CF, SF or BF). Besides giving the extrudates a natural color, the use of vegetable flours also provided nutritional and functional enrichment due to increased mineral, protein, lipid, fiber and phenolic compound contents, and greater antioxidant capacity. However, some of these components, such as fibers, affect extrudate physical structure and technological characteristics, evidenced by reduced expansion, hardness, paste viscosity and greater interaction with water present in milk under consumption conditions. In general, the evaluated flours proved to be an alternative for imparting a natural color to extruded breakfast cereals, in addition to positively contributing to their nutritional and functional value.