Physicochemical and Sensory Properties of Potato Snacks Fortified with Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis)

The food industry has been working to decrease artificial additives while simultaneously creating products that contain ingredients that have positive effects on human health and enhance physical and mental well-being, as well as essential nutrients. Recently, spirulina has gained increased recognition as a functional food due to its antioxidant, immune system-modulating, and cholesterol-lowering qualities. In this regard, the focus of this research was to study the nutritional characteristics of dried spirulina algae and assess the impact of spirulina powder as a novel ingredient in the construction of potato snacks by analyzing the physicochemical and sensory aspects of the snack samples containing 1.5, 2.5, 3.5 and 5% spirulina powder. According to the obtained results, spirulina recorded the highest value of protein, fat, crude fiber, ash, minerals and antioxidants, which reflected on the spirulina enriched potato snacks physicochemical and sensory aspects in comparison to the control sample. Spirulina enriched snack provides a substantial amount of protein and antioxidants including phycocyanin, chlorophyll a and carotenoids. Enrichment of snacks resulted in an improvement in texture attribute, while other attributes decreased by increasing the spirulina fortification concentration; however no significant (p≤0.05) differences were recorded among potato snack samples fortified with 1.5, 2.5 and 3.5% spirulina powder for taste, color, odor and texture, Meanwhile a significant difference was observed for overall palatability between samples 1.5 and 3.5%, which were acceptable.