Açaí residues and banana pulp in extruded products

Abstract

Currently, we witness a paradox between undernourished populations and tons of wasted food in parallel with the demand for practical, fast and advantageous food products. It is common for fruits in Brazil to be depulped and used for frozen pulp and juice preparation, for example. This process generates by-products (peel and seeds), which may contain high levels of bioactive compounds. Açaí (Euterpe oleracea Mart.), a fruit typical of the Amazon region, generates residues with important functional and nutritional elements, such as dietary fiber. Banana (Musa paradisiaca L.), an economically accessible fruit of great production, presents beneficial natural substances such as polyphenols and fibers. As açaí presents significant amounts of discarded waste in its industrial processing and banana has a high productivity, it is interesting to search new applications to take advantage of these two raw materials. An alternative technology used to obtain products such as expanded breakfast cereals is thermoplastic extrusion. Thus, the objective of this study is to apply banana pulp and açaí residues in the extrusion cooking process to obtain products with higher added value, ready-to-eat, reducing nutrient losses, in order to invest in healthy and sustainable development. In summary, the study will evaluate the best proportion of the mixture of these ingredients in extruded products, with a focus on health and sustainability.