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

of the collaborators' existing process for the incorporation of vitamin A in peanut butter. The objective of
the seminar was to train the collaborators' production personnel on the importance of GMP.
Plans for the technology transfer of vitamin A fortified peanut butter and impact assessment of
technology adoption were presented to the Operations Manager and R&D Head during the plant visit.
Specifically, the responsibilities of parties concerned namely the Food Development Center (FDC),
University of Georgia (UGA), and the industry collaborator as specified in the Memorandum of
Agreement (MOA) were discussed.
After presentation of the plans for technology transfer, a tour of the roasting area for peanuts and
the processing area for peanut butter production was made with the guidance of the R&D Head. The
equipment available in the areas visited was noted and the process flow and raw materials used for
flavored peanut butter were observed and documented. Unfortunately, at the time of the plant visit, only
the production of plain peanut butter in institutional packs was being processed, thus, the actual
incorporation of the vitamin A fortificant was not observed.
Standardization of the Process at Collaborator's Plant
A preliminary verification of the fortification process developed by the collaborator was
conducted. This was done by collecting samples of fortified peanut butter that was processed by the
collaborator based on its existing fortification process, for submission to the Chemistry Laboratory of
FDC for vitamin A analysis. Based on the results of the preliminary verification, four studies were
conducted at the industry collaborators' processing plant to improve recovery and dispersion of the
vitamin A added to the peanut butter matrix. The four studies undertaken were as follows:
Study 1. Effect of increasing the number of addition/mixing times of vitamin A fortificant to peanut butter
in the developed process of the collaborator
Study 2. Effect of incorporating the vitamin A fortificant in the cooling tank equipped with a mixer after
the 2 nd grinding step in the existing process for peanut butter production of the collaborator
Study 3. Effect of incorporating the vitamin A fortificant in the filler tank in the existing fortification
process for sweet and creamy peanut butter of the collaborator
Study 4. Validation of the recovery and dispersion of vitamin A in fortified sweet and creamy peanut
butter prepared by the direct addition of the vitamin A fortificant at the cooling tank
Raw Materials
Peanut butter. The peanut butter matrix for receiving the vitamin A fortificant used in the studies was
the sweet and creamy peanut butter variant of the industry collaborator. It was prepared by the
collaborator following the company's existing procedure for preparing peanut butter up to the point in the
process where the vitamin A fortificant was identified to be added. A schematic diagram of the
collaborator's procedure for the preparation of peanut butter matrix for receiving the vitamin A fortificant
is shown in Fig. 5b.1. Four volumes of about ~38.81 kg peanut butter were prepared each time a study
was conducted.
Fortificant. The vitamin A fortificant used in the studies was vitamin A palmitate in oil packed in 5 Kg
capacity aluminum container with a declared value of 1.0 Million IU/g. The fortificant was purchased by
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