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

INTRODUCTION
Two methods for the vitamin A fortification of peanut butter have been developed under the
Peanut Collaborative Research Support Program (PCRSP) namely, the premix method by the Food
Development Center (FDC, 2003) and the direct addition method by Galvez et al. (2003). The former is a
two-step fortification process that involves the preparation of peanut butter with a high concentration of
vitamin A followed by the preparation of fortified peanut butter that meets the target fortification level of
at least 33% of the Recommended Energy and Nutrition Intake (RENI) for Filipinos. In the latter method,
the vitamin A fortificant is added directly to the peanut butter matrix before the 2 nd grinding step in a
colloid mill then manually mixed with the peanut butter matrix.
In the premix method, the peanut butter premix is manually added and mixed with plain peanut
after the 2 nd grinding step in a colloid mill then transferred to a Horizontal mixer where the fortified
product is mixed mechanically for 10 minutes. A mixer that does not incorporate too much air is needed
to prevent vitamin A loss during the mixing process. The existing facilities of the industry collaborator,
however, do not have a mixer which is necessary in the fortification of peanut butter by the premix
method. In the absence of a mixer at the collaborator’s plant, which is required for the addition of
fortificant using a premix, the direct addition method developed by Galvez et al. (2003) had to be
evaluated as an alternative.
Since a technology for the vitamin A fortification of peanut butter is available under PCRSP and
the industry collaborator to which the fortification technology was initially transferred has stopped the
distribution of the fortified product in the local market, the technology for vitamin A fortification of
peanut butter was offered to a small company who sought the assistance of Dr. Anna V.A. Resurreccion,
PCRSP US Principal Investigator, for the stabilization of its flowing-type peanut butter. A Memorandum
of Agreement was signed between the parties concerned, a copy of which is shown in Appendix A.
Under the MOA, the industry collaborator shall provide the raw materials needed and to make available
its facilities during the standardization of the process at the collaborators’ plant. FDC, on the other hand,
shall transfer the fortification technology to the industry collaborator taking into consideration the
collaborators’ existing facilities while the University of Georgia shall provide funding for the raw
materials and vitamin A analysis of fortified peanut butter and fortificant.
OBJECTIVES
The goal of the study is to encourage adoption of the fortification technology of peanut butter
developed under PCRSP by a company that would result in the commercialization of the product. The
general objective of the study was to transfer the technology for the vitamin A fortification of a stabilized
peanut butter to a small company engaged in peanut butter production. The specific objective of the
project was to improve the direct addition method developed under PCRSP to suit the existing process
flow and available facilities of the collaborator for peanut butter production.
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