Chemical and functional properties of snacks produced from wheat flour fortified with Moringa oleifera leaf powder

Healthy snacks are widely accepted and can be part of a daily diet since they can be eaten in different areas such as homes, offices, conferences, workshops, and most especially in schools. Snacks have become an essential commodity in every home for both young and old. There are several reasons why snacks are consumed. It could result from hunger, convenience, cravings, socializing, and emotional comfort. Various individual, societal, and environmental elements influence snacking behaviour. Furthermore, awareness of healthy snacks and self-esteem in selecting the "right" snacks are major predictors of snacking behaviour. Most snack foods are commonly referred to as "junk food" or "empty foods" because they include a large amount of calories from sugar or fat with minimal protein, vitamin, or mineral content. However, despite their role in the daily diet, these snacks are mostly energy dense and low in nutrients. Some research studies have been done on functional snacks, but more is yet to be explored. Moringa oleifera leaf powder (MoLP) has been helpful as a food fortificant in various products. This study has utilized it to fortify two varieties of snacks, namely Magwinya and Chinchin (wheat flour). The chemical and functional properties of these snack food products after fortification with MoLP at 0% (Control), 1% and 5% of the variants were determined. Moringa oleifera leaf powder (MoLP) (1% and 5%) had a significant (p < 0.05) effect on the moisture (4.63 – 3.97%), ash (0.52 -1.09%), protein (11.36 – 13.40%), and total fat of both the dough (0.17 – 0.81%) and fried product (10.17 – 15.39%) of Magwinya samples. Chinchin fortified with MoLP had a significantly (p < 0.05) higher phenolic content (1.08 – 2.17 mg GAE/g), antioxidant activity (13.41 – 53.81 µmol TE/g), protein content (6.27 - 6.74%), oil uptake (1.89 - 7.12%), and ash (0.99 - 1.39%) consistently at 5% MoLP. These results show that these snacks fortified by MoLP can be advantageous to children and adults in Western and Southern Africa. Key words: Moringa oleifera Leaf Powder (MoLP), Wheat flour, Fortification, Chemical, Functional