Nutritional Profiling and Storage Stability of Carrot-Based Burfi Premixes

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is prevalent and contributes to morbidity and mortality, especially in young children in developing countries. Vitamin A deficiency contributes up to 23 percent lives lost in children below five years. Nutrition-sensitive food-based approaches, as endorsed by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), offer sustainable, effective, and economical solutions to improve dietary quality and combat malnutrition. In this context, the present study aimed towards formulating, nutritional profiling and evaluate the storage stability of carrot based burfi premixes tailored for preschool children. The study design included Completely Randomised Design (CRD) and the study was conducted at the Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Community and Applied Sciences, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. Three variants of burfi premixes were developed using different proportions of carrot powder and grain flours. The premixes underwent sensory evaluation to determine organoleptic acceptability, followed by analysis of nutritional composition and storage stability. Among the formulations, Treatment T3, i.e. 50:50 blend of bengal gram flour and carrot powder, achieved the highest overall acceptability score of 8.8 on a 9-point hedonic scale, with statistically significant differences (p<0.05) across all parameters. The selected premix contained very good beta-carotene, rich in fiber and essential nutrients, including minerals. During a 90-day storage period in HDPE packaging at room temperature, the product attributed better organoleptic scores with promising nutritional parameters and moisture content remained within permissible limits.