Development of Cereal Bars Containing Pineapple Peel Flour (Ananas comosus L. Merril)

Cereal bars are nutritious food composed of several ingredients including cereals, fruits, nuts and sugar among others. Thus, this study aimed to develop cereal bars containing pineapple peel flour. A completely randomized design was used with four treatments, as follows: Control (0% flour); T1 (3% flour); T2 (6% flour); and T3 (9% flour), for the variables moisture, ash, protein, fat, crude fiber and carbohydrates. It was observed that the higher the pineapple peel flour content, the greater the crude fiber content in the cereal bars was, evidencing the significant amounts of crude fiber in the pineapple peel. In the texture analysis, although an increase in bar consistency was observed with increasing concentrations of pineapple peel flour, no differences were observed up to 6% flour addition when compared to the control. With respect to the sensory attributes, the samples scored among the hedonic terms 7.0 (moderately good) and 9.0 (very good). It can be concluded that the pineapple peel flour is a good alternative to be introduced in human diet, in addition to significantly reduce waste generation in the pulp industries. Practical Applications In this study, we produced cereal bars using different concentrations of pineapple peel flour (PPF), a co-product of the fruit industry. We observed that the addition of up to 6% PPF in the cereal bars did not alter the sensory acceptance and increased the fiber content. We believe that these findings may be useful for the production of cereal bars with healthier characteristics and reduce the environment impact caused by industrialization of pineapple.