| The purpose of energy bars is to provide people with energy to help them perform various tasks in their lives in a better way. There are several types of energy bars in the market nowadays; however, there are some people who are allergic to gluten, nut, soy, and dairy and, unfortunately, there is no energy bar that can suit their needs. As a result, this study attempted to develop an energy bar that is gluten, nut, soy, and dairy free. A comparison between the developed energy bar in this study and a commercial bar was made. Sixty-six panelists were recruited from students, faculty and staff on contract of Oklahoma State University and were voluntarily participated in the study. They were asked to taste the two samples and evaluate eight important attributes including stickiness to touch, color, chewiness, flavor, sweetness, adhesiveness to teeth, texture and overall acceptance using a nine-point hedonic scale. Proximate analysis of both samples was determined. A suggested HACCP plan for industries intend to produce this energy bar was proposed. Results indicated that there was a significance difference (p<0.05) in chewiness, adhesiveness to teeth, and stickiness between the developed energy bar and the commercial bar. No difference was found in the remaining quality attributes. The developed energy bar was higher in carbohydrate and moisture and lower in protein, ash, and fat comparing to the commercial bar. In addition, the HACCP plan had one CCP that could be overcome using an X-ray detection system. |
