Mango peels: A potential source of nutrients and a preservative

Abstract

Consumption, usage, and inclination toward ready-to-eat food item have dramatically heightened in past few years. Due to changing in living style, increase in purchasing power dependence on processed food has seeped deep into a person’s eating habits. This has led to the flooding of the market with processed foods containing synthetic antioxidants. Though these synthetic antioxidants increase the shelf life of the product, it may have severe ill effects on the health of the person consuming it. Numerous studies have advocated about the devastating effects of these synthetic additives that are used in food products, indicating the need for natural antioxidants. In the present, investigation and initiative were taken to find a natural source of antioxidant which would be cheap and would also enhance the nutritional value for the food product. Mango peels which form a part of waste in the food industry but is otherwise a good source of nutrients and antioxidants were studied after incorporating it into biscuits at a rate of 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%. Results revealed that an addition of 15% of mango peel powder (MPP) in the biscuits was well accepted by the consumers, and the nutrient composition was observed to be significantly increased when compared with control at 5% level of significance.