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

The vitamin A content present in the product after processing was determined using Official
Method No. 974.29 of the Official Methods of Analysis (AOAC, 1995) while the expected level of
vitamin A in the premix and in the final fortified product was computed using the following formulas:
Expected level of Vit. A = Weight of fortificant added (g) x Potency of fortificant(µg/g)
in the premix Weight of plain peanut butter (g) + Wt. of fortificant (g)
Expected level of Vit. A = Weight of premix added (g) x Vit. A content of premix (µg/g)
in final fortified product Weight of plain peanut butter (g) + Weight of premix (g)
Premix preparation. Premix was prepared in two production batches (Trials 1 and 2) following
the procedure described in Fig. 2.4. In Trial 1, premix was prepared by adding 2.72 g of vitamin A
palmitate in oil to 3 Kg of plain peanut butter. From the production batch, one sample each was taken at
the start, middle and end of filling and analyzed for vitamin A content. Vitamin A recovery and %
variability were then computed as bases for evaluating dispersion of the fortificant in the premix.
For the second trial, the same procedure as above was repeated but higher levels of the fortificant
(7.42 g) was added to 3 Kg of plain peanut butter after the fortificant was found to have lost its potency
following 3 months of storage in a refrigerator held at 5 o C. Vitamin A concentration of the fortificant
decreased from an initial of 322,163.41 µg RE to 117,735.51µg RE. Dispersion was not measured in this
trial to save on cost. Results are shown in Table 2.2.
Preparation of fortified peanut butter. Fortified peanut butter was prepared by adding 60 g of
peanut butter premix to 3 Kg of plain peanut butter following the procedure described in Fig. 2.5. The
proportion of premix to plain peanut butter used was ∼1:50. This was the ratio calculated as necessary to
meet 4.38 µg RE/g peanut butter, the minimum requirement for vitamin A in the final fortified product
assuming 2 servings/day (40 grams per serving) of peanut butter. From the production batch, one sample
each was taken at the start, middle and end of filling and analyzed for vitamin A content. The vitamin A
recovery and percentage variability of the three samples were then evaluated. Results are shown in Table
2.3.
Experiment 2: Determination of the effect of light on vitamin A recovery and dispersion in
fortified peanut butter.
This experiment was conducted to determine if processing in the absence of light would affect
vitamin A recovery. Fortified peanut butter was prepared by adding 60 g of peanut butter premix to 3 Kg
of plain peanut butter following the procedure described in Fig. 2.5. In this experiment, aluminum foil
was used to wrap the clear polycarbonate cover of the Hobart vertical mixer Model HCM 300 to prevent
light exposure of the product during mixing. A premix to plain peanut butter proportion of ∼1:50 was
used for the fortification process. From the production batch, one sample each taken at the start, middle
and end of filling were analyzed for vitamin A content then evaluated for vitamin A recovery and %
variability as a means to evaluate uniform dispersion of the fortificant. Results are shown in Table 2.4.
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