DEVELOPMENT OF CEREAL BARS USING SORBITOL SYRUP, PEANUT BUTTER AND Spirulina sp.

Abstract: Cereal bars combine innovation, convenience, and healthiness in a single food, serving as sources of dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals, albeit with low protein content and rich in readily available sugars. The work involved the development and characterization of cereal bars with an improved lipid profile, low sugar content, and the addition of proteins derived from Spirulina sp biomass (SB). The standard formulation consisted of 35.4% glucose syrup, 60% flake mixture (oat:rice-70:30), 4% margarine, 0.4% lecithin, and 0.2% salt. Through a Simplex-Centroid Mixture Design (P<0.10; R2>0.70), substitutions took place: glucose syrup by sorbitol syrup-SS (0-50%), margarine by peanut butter-PB (0-100%), and flake mixture by SB (0-10%). Results ranged between 0.63 and 0.73 g/cm³ for apparent density, 0.5518 and 0.6509 for aw, 10.23 and 208.17N for hardness, and 2.81 and 34.92N for shear force. The apparent density increased with the use of sorbitol syrup (β1=0.72), while it decreased (P=0.012) with the interaction between peanut butter and SB (β12=-0.25). A lower water activity (P<0.001) was obtained with the use of SS (β1=0.5479). Binary interactions reduced hardness (P=0.002) and shear force (P=0.003), with notable interactions between SS and PB (β13=-246) and SS and SB (β12=-47.05), respectively. In general, it was observed that higher levels of SS and lower levels of PB yielded the best results, resulting in compact cereal bars with lower water activity and improved texture properties. Furthermore, the distinct effect between SS and PB and SB allows cereal bars to exhibit a better lipid profile and an increase in protein content.