Optimization and Modeling of Energy Bars Based Formulations by Simplex Lattice Mixture Design

Abstract

Simplex lattice mixture design was utilized to optimize high caloric and acceptable energy bars. Fourteen formulations of injera were produced from flour blends of high quality cassava flour (0–100%), toasted bambara groundnut (0–100%) and roasted cashew kernel(0–100%).The study was carried out to evaluate the effect of varying the proportions of the independent variables on these dependent variables (proteins, fats, carbohydrate) and general acceptability qualities of the energy bars. Proteins, Fats and Carbohydrates were indicators of the calorie values of these energy bars. Mixture response surface methodology was used to model the proteins, fats, carbohydrates and general acceptability with single, binary and ternary combinations of high quality cassava flour, toasted bambara groundnut and roasted cashew kernel flours. The effect of variation in levels of cassava, bambara groundnut and cashew kernel flours on the fats, proteins, carbohydrates and general acceptability of the formulated energy bars were adequately predicted with regression equation. The statistical adequacy of the generated polynomial equation of the responses was checked using the following indices: F-value at p0.05, coefficient of determination R2, Adj. R2, lack of fit, and coefficient of variation (CV). Optimization suggested energy bars containing 61.40 % high quality cassava flour, 0.00 % bambara groundnut flour and 38.6 % cashew kernel flour as the best proportion of these components with a desirability of 0.775. Numerical optimization indicated that better sensory and high calorific qualities are directly related with the proportion of cassava flour, bambara groundnut flour and cashew kernel flour respectively. The optimum blends as validated showed a close relationship between the predicted and experimental values.