Proponent/Claimant
Abstract
Eastern Visayas Food Innovation Center has continually developed products using under-utilized resources for innovation, value-addition, and product and process improvement. One commonly available and underutilized plant is the blue butterfly pea flower (Clitoria ternatea Linn.). They are good source of ternatin antioxidant and other nutritional components. The fresh edible flowers are highly perishable, deteriorating at less than 48 hours even at cold temperatures. Drying as one of the oldest methods of prolonging shelf-life was employed to increase the flowers’ availability and stability, making a powder for direct reconstitution, also as potential food ingredient and as natural food colorant. To establish suitable storage conditions of the powdered flower, this study aimed to determine the moisture sorption isotherm (MSI) using standard gravimetric method at 30oC and 40oC with six (6) saturated salt solutions and to estimate the shelf-life using three (3) different packaging materials stored at 29oC / 80%. Observed Equilibrium Moisture Content (EMC) values were fitted to GAB mathematical model by a generated polynomial equation. Water Vapor Transmission Rate (WVTR) and Permeability Coefficient (P) of the packaging materials used were also investigated in estimating the shelf-life together with the MSI data. The isotherms exhibited Type II curve or were sigmoidal in shape. GAB as the model used showed to be a best fit model to describe experimental data with coefficient of determination, R2>0.9, mean relative percent deviation modulus, %E and root mean square percent error, %RMSE of <10%. Based on Heiss-Eichner linear model overlaid to the predicted sorption isotherms, product packed in VMPET/PE was the most effective packaging compared with MOPP/PET/AL/PE and NYLON/PE. This accelerated and simulated approach in estimating shelf-life is beneficial to food companies with food safety concerns, for proper storage recommendation, process improvement at shorter time and lower cost of investigation.