Date of Graduation

5-2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Food Science

Advisor/Mentor

Hettiarachchy, Navam

Abstract

Snacks make up a large portion of the U.S. daily meals, but unhealthy snacks may be causing consumers to become overweight or obese. A healthy alternatives are germinated cereals and legumes, which undergo chemical compositional changes producing smaller size molecules for easier digestion and generate bioactives. Therefore, the objective of this research was to develop a healthy and nutritional snack chip from germinated, Arkansas produced rough rice and germinated green gram that will be easier for the body to digest, provide much higher protein than conventional chips or crackers with low on the glycemic index, and still meet consumer demands for more nutritious and innovative snacks. Rough rice and green gram were soaked and germinated for 1, 3, 5, and 7 days. The germination showed a significant difference (P < 0.05) in the changes in nutrient composition and antinutrients: increase of protein and lipids, decrease of starch, change in moisture, change in water activity and decrease in trypsin inhibitor, lipoxygenase-1, lipoxygenase-3 activity. The germinated rice and green gram showed microbial counts around 104 which is within the usual acceptable counts. The in vitro glycemic index testing showed a decrease over the germination period tested for both rough rice and green gram. Color was also tested and showed a significant difference (P < 0.05) in difference in color. The germinated rice and green gram flours were made into a snack chip and underwent fracturability treatment, in which the chip made which germinated flours required almost twice the force in comparison to the chip made with non-germinated flours. 4-month shelf-life study showed a significant change in color after 3 months. A sensory evaluation by 74 subjects showed an increased acceptability for snack chips prepared from 5-day germinated rough rice and 5-day germinated green gram flours compared to snack chips prepared with non-germinated rough rice and green gram flours. The results indicate that snack chips prepared using sprouted rough rice and green gram is a healthier alternative to the snack chips currently on the market due an increase in protein and lipids and a decrease in the glycemic index.

Keywords

germination, rough rice, green gram, nutraceutical, snack chip, physicochemical, sensory, trypsin inhibitor, lipoxygenase, service learning

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