Masooma Munir^{1, 2,}, Muhammad Nadeem¹, Tahir Mahmood Qureshi¹, Aqsa Qayyum², Muhammad Suhaib³, Falak Zeb⁴, Ijaz -ul-Haq⁴, Aneela Qureshi¹, Muthupandian Ashokkumar⁵

Fruit based products are major part of healthy diet ever since human life began on earth. In the present study, four treatments (T₀ to T₄) of date based snack bar of approximately 36±2g with high nutritional value were prepared on the basis of oats supplementation. Electronic hygropalm meter was used to determined water activity. After sensory evaluation, proximate composition, pH and free fatty acids, the mineral contents were measured by using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The hardness increased and water activity decreased significantly (p < 0.05) among the treatments. Moisture content in all treatments was low as compared to that of date paste. Maximum fat content was found in T₃ (6.9%) and the minimum in T₀ (2.5%). The maximum protein content was found in T₃ (~14%) than all other three treatments. Significant difference (p < 0.05) was found in mineral contents of all treatments. Total sugars ranged from 50.7% to 45.9% were recorded with significant variation among treatments. Reducing sugars were high than non-reducing sugars, while acidity and free fatty acid contents were varied non-significantly among treatments. The highest score (7.1 score) of sensory evaluation recorded for T₂, followed by T₁ and T₃ and lowest for T₀. It has been concluded that the addition of oats have positive effect on acceptability and nutritional value of bars. Because of high nutritive value these bars would be healthy for consumers and motivate the food manufacturers and farmers for cottage as well as international industry.

treatments, water activity, proximate composition, nutritional value, sensory evaluation