The Department of Science and Technology-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) is seeking to produce functional food products with prebiotic properties.
DOST Secretary Fortunato “Boy” T. de la Peña announced this on the DOSTv Facebook page on Friday, April 30.
"The DOST-FNRI has started looking into the prebiotic properties of functional food products. The research aims to develop food products with prebiotic properties using locally available raw materials,” he said during his weekly report.
He said in the FNRI study, the raw materials will be screened based on previous local and international studies and then subjected to chemical analyses to validate their functionality claims.
"The screened raw materials will then be used as one of the ingredients for food product development. Currently, the optimization runs and sample preparation of granola with prebiotic ingredient is being continued,” de la Peña said.
He explained that prebiotics are a type of functional food which selectively enhance the activity of some groups of beneficial bacteria.
“It provides health benefits in the large intestine, reduces risk of non-communicable diseases, and increases absorption of nutrients and minerals,” the DOST chief said.
The DOST-FNRI launched on Wednesday, April 28, the enhanced nutribun carrot variant.
The Institute also disclosed that the development of the enhanced nutribun kamote (sweet potato) variant "is in the pipeline.”
http://https://mb.com.ph/2021/04/29/dost-fnri-to-develop-enhanced-nutribun-with-sweet-potato/