VITAMIN A FORTIFIed PEANUT BUTTER - The Official Website of ...

ABSTRACT
Studies were undertaken by the Food Development Center (FDC) to improve the direct addition
method developed by Galvez et al. (2003) for incorporating a vitamin A fortificant to peanut butter that
would suit the available facilities and existing process for peanut butter production of a small company, in
order to transfer the technology. The goal was to encourage adoption by the company resulting in
commercialization of the product.
The studies looked into the effect of heat during the grinding process on the stability of the
vitamin A fortificant by comparing the effects of adding the fortificant before and after the 2 nd grinding
step on the percentage recovery of vitamin A. Product temperature before the grinding step is 58 o C and
after the grinding step is 68 o C.
The results of the study showed that changing the point of addition from before to after the 2 nd
grinding step had no effect on vitamin A recovery. What appeared to be important was proper mixing of
the vitamin A fortificant into the product. This was achieved by incorporation of the fortificant in
staggered strokes, use of stabilizer as carrier for the small amount of fortificant that is added, and
optimization of mixing time.
When the vitamin A fortificant was added before the 2 nd grinding step, the average vitamin
recovery was 87.95% and the variability was 5.92% at a mixing time of two minutes. At a mixing time of
five minutes, the average vitamin A recovery was 90.13% and the variability was 7.08%. At a mixing
time of 10 minutes, the average vitamin A recovery was 87.93% and the variability was 4.42%.
When the vitamin A fortificant was added after the 2 nd grinding step, the vitamin A recovery was
90.08% and the variability was 12.63% after mixing for two minutes. At a mixing time of five minutes,
the vitamin A recovery was 103.36% and the variability was 0.4%.
When the FDC improved process was tested at the collaborator's plant, high vitamin A recoveries
were initially obtained; 110.13% for two minutes and 109.89% for five minutes mixing. Consistent high
recoveries however were not obtained. This variability could be due to the fact that the mixing process
carried out manually and as the product is viscous, it is likely that the mixing strokes are not carried out
with uniform efficiency between personnel. This possibility is being evaluated.
In summary, the process for fortification is as follows: (1) Addition of the vitamin A fortificant
after the one-time grinding of roasted peanuts and sugar, (2) Addition and manual mixing of the vitamin
A fortificant to Myverol prior to incorporation to the peanut butter matrix, (3) Manual mixing of the
mixture of vitamin A fortificant and stabilizer to peanut butter matrix for two minutes, (4) Rapid cooling
of the fortified peanut butter in an ice water bath using ice packs in plastic containers to maintain the
required 10 o C temperature, (5) Conditioning/tempering of the fortified peanut butter in a household
refrigerator at a temperature range of 2 – 8 o C.
The technology for the vitamin A fortification and stabilization of peanut butter was formally
transferred to the small company in February 2007. The technology for the stabilization of peanut butter
was readily adopted by the collaborator but the technology for vitamin A fortification was temporarily
shelved for the following reasons: (a) Need to hire a technical personnel to oversee the addition/mixing of
fortificant because the present manpower complement of the company do not have a technical
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