EFFICACY OF A COATING COMPOSED OF CARBOXYMETHYL CELLULOSE AND WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE TO CONTROL THE QUALITY OF JAGGERY

This study evaluated the efficacy of coating composed of Carboxymethyl Cellulose and Whey Protein Concentrate on the storage characteristics and storage quality conditions of coated jaggery for 15 weeks. The edible coating was based on five different levels of Carboxymethyl cellulose (0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, 2%and 2.5%) and Whey protein concentrate (2%, 4%, 6%, 8% and 10%).The results indicate that the storage of jaggery were modified and improved by coating. The statistical data revealed that different treatment of jaggery samples significantly affected the pH, reducing sugar, total microbial count and optical density. The reducing sugar, optical density, total viable count and mould count increased significantly as the storage period increased. However, moisture content and pH followed decreasing pattern during the storage. The result of the study concluded that coating of jaggery sample could help in retaining the desirable moisture upto some extent. Also it can be concluded that problem related to keeping quality of jaggery could be overcome by applying edible coating based on carboxymethyl cellulose and whey protein concentrate.