Improvement of Quality Attributes of Nuggets Using Banana Trunk (Musa Balbisiana)

Abstract

Nuggets are one of the fast foods designed for commercial resale, with a strong emphasis on service speed. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredients. Developing banana trunk innovations into nuggets with a satisfying taste will attract the public to try a healthier and more affordable product. This study aims to identify the sensory properties of banana trunk nuggets at four different levels: control, 100%, 90%, and 80%. For identifying the key attributes of control and banana trunk nuggets, samples were evaluated by an untrained panellist using 6 attributes from the hedonic test. The test was carried out by 40 untrained panellists from Tun Syed Nasir Syed Ismail Polytechnic, Johor, who were students enrolled in Food Technology semester 4. Statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) evaluated by the untrained panellists were found in the taste, flavour, and overall acceptability scores among the F1, F2 and F3. Sensory evaluation showed that banana trunk nuggets with a 100% banana trunk addition were the most well-accepted. In conclusion, the implementation of various formulations for banana trunk nugget products has the potential to revolutionize the industry and expand its marketing reach globally.