Sensory, physico-chemical, microbial and textural changes in whey protein concentrate based extruded snack food during storage

Extruded snacks are gaining recognition as well as appreciation these days due to their ready-to-eat nature, delicious taste and appealing look. Combination of lysine rich whey protein concentrate with lysine deficient cereal protein has synergistic effect that imparts a high nutritional value to the mixed protein in the product. The milk solids based extruded snack food and control sample were stored at room temperature (37±2 °C) after packaging in MET PET material. The whey protein concentrate based extruded snack food samples and control sample were analyzed for changes in sensory characteristics, physico-chemical properties and textural properties as well as for microbiological quality at 15 days interval. Sensory scores, fracturability for experimental sample and control decreased while moisture, water activity and hardness increased during entire storage period. The Standard plate count decreased while coliform count and yeast and mold count were found absent till 180 days of storage.