Quality of pasta enriched with different functional ingredients

Pasta is recognized as one of the foodstuffs suited to a modern diet providing human organism with carbohydrates and protein. Growing awareness of the beneficial effects of a healthy diet on the quality of life has lead to developing of food products with special health-enhancing attributes (functional food). The pasta quality is defined by the means of the type of durum wheat from which the flour is produced, characteristics of the flour, the manufacturing processes, possible added ingredients and hygiene and preservation. Development of pasta as a functional food by incorporation of functional ingredients containing in soy, maize, extruded maize and barley flour was investigated. The most important criteria of dry pasta quality: external appearance (color, spots, air bubbles, smoothness) and other parameter of sensory quality after cooking (optimum cooking time, volume increase and cooking loss) were evaluated. The results showed that addition up to 25% maize, 20% extruded maize, 20% soy and up to 40% barley flours provides good quality pasta with enhanced functional properties.