Assessment of physicochemicaland functional properties of expanded snack enriched with whey protein concentrated

Strong demand for improvement of current expanded snacks with optimal functional and nutritional properties has a dramatic increased. It turns into controversial subject through researchers. This study was performed in order to optimize expanded snack containing high amount of protein. Whey protein concentrate (WPC) is the most commercialized in the nutrition market due to its high nutritional value when compared to other proteins sources. In this regard, the effect of formulation variables containing WPC (4-12%) and feed moisture (11-16%) on physicochemical and functional properties of expanded snack were evaluated andaftercoating with beet powder (5-15%) and corn oil (40-60%), corn snack products were evaluated in terms of sense. the characteristics of rigidity, porosity and texture, flavor, oral sensation and general acceptance were examined. Optimization results showed that the most desirable puffed product was determined at 11.10% feed moisture and 8.83% WPC. The final moisture content, expansion index, bulk density, porosity and hardness of expanded snack were observed 1.70%, 6.49%, 0/07 gcm-3, 0/9% and 1.61 N, respectively. Functional properties also including oil absorption, water solubility and water absorption indices were obtained 2.63 g/g, 49.50 g/g and 3.53 g/g, respectively. On the other hand, the lightness, redness and yellowness values of expanded snackwere 57.03, 7.50 and 21.68, respectively.15% beet powder and 40.1708% corn oil were also the most suitable for achieving a coating with best sensory characteristics. This project obviously demonstrated that WPC as a food by product could be a valuable candidate in fortification program of expanded snacks especially infant food formulations.