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

utylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), tocopherol reduces the rate of
oxidative rancidity.
Vitamin A is more stable in fats and oils than in other foods. This is because they are protected
from air contact thereby delaying oxidation. The stability of vitamin A in oil however depends greatly on
the stability of the oil medium. The higher the peroxide value of the oil, the greater is the loss in vitamin
A. Using high quality oil and protecting the oil from oxidation and rancidity is therefore basic to
preserving vitamin A (Bagriansky and Ranum, 1998). Addition of antioxidants such as Vitamin E,
butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), tocopherol reduces the rate of
oxidative rancidity.
To help improve the nutritional status of the Philippine population, a company engaged in the
manufacture of peanut butter was tapped to be one of its collaborators for the project on vitamin A
fortification. A Memorandum of Agreement was entered among the parties concerned, a copy of which is
shown in Appendix A. Experiments were conducted by the Food Development Center (FDC) to fortify
the peanut butter of the industry collaborator after procedures developed by the University of the
Philippines (UP) showed low percentage recoveries of vitamin A and difficulty in tracing the cause of
poor recovery.
OBJECTIVES
The objective of this study was to improve the nutritional quality of a Philippine commercial
brand unstabilized peanut butter by developing a suitable technology for the vitamin A fortification of
peanut butter. A fortification process that produced a vitamin A fortified peanut butter that meets the
Philippine regulatory requirements for fortified food products without affecting the original product
quality was developed and subsequently adopted by the industry collaborator in the production of their
unstabilized peanut butter.
METHODS
The fortificant used was vitamin A palmitate in oil, which is a yellow oil at room temperature
with a potency of 1.0 M IU/g oil. The fortificant was obtained from BASF Philippines, Inc. (Carmelray
Industrial Park I, Canlubang, Laguna, Philippines).
Preparation of premix refers to the addition of vitamin A palmitate in oil to plain peanut butter
while preparation of fortified peanut butter refers to the dilution of the premix with plain peanut butter.
This is done at a weight ratio that ensures that the final fortified product conforms with the Philippine
regulatory requirements for vitamin A fortified foods. Based on the Philippine Guidelines on
Micronutrient Fortification of Processed Foods, the level of vitamin A added to foods should supply at
least one third (35%) of the RENI of the target consumer (minimum level required) but shall not exceed
150% of the RENI (maximum level required) per prescribed serving(s) likely to be consumed per day
(DOH, 1995). In this study, the Philippine RENI for vitamin A of a male adult (525 µg RE) and the
industry collaborator’s recommended serving size of 2 tbsp (40 g) and one serving per adult per day were
used as bases for calculating the target minimum fortification level of 4.38 µg RE/g peanut butter.
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