MIXTURE DESIGN OPTIMISATION OF RED PALM OIL IN CANDY: EFFECTS ON HARDNESS AND FRIABILITY

Although red palm oil (RPO) is rich in carotenes (500-800 ppm) and vitamin E (800 ppm), its unique flavour may not be appealing to some consumers.Incorporating RPO in candy not only toning down the flavour but also serves as a convenient delivery system and increases its market acceptability.In this study, direct compression was chosen for preparing candy, as it generates minimal heat, thereby preserving most of the carotenes and vitamin E. The primary objective of this study was to optimise the formulation of RPO candy to achieve desirable responses: Hardness and friability.The process began with the screening of raw materials.Screening results indicated that erythritol with the highest sweetness-to-calorie ratio was a good candidate with a mesh size of 80-100, exhibited fair flow properties and good homogeneity.Gum arabic was selected among the three tested binders due to its highest binding ability.The mixture design was employed to examine the interaction of the three components: Erythritol, RPO powder (RPOP) and gum arabic on the responses.Through the optimisation process, the formulation consisting of 50% erythritol, 10% RPOP and 33.5% gum arabic was successful in producing intact RPO candy.