Development Of Extruded Snacks Using Pumpkin Flour

Abstract

The post-harvest sector involves the processes from harvest to consumption. Losses of fruits and vegetables are a major problem in the postharvest chain. Post-harvest loss is the degradation of both the quality and quantity of agricultural produce. Sri Lanka is an ideal county for agriculture because it is a tropical country. Climate is well suited for agriculture. Because of that, the yield of the agricultural commodity is getting high. But levels of post-harvest losses continue to persist in fresh produce value chains in Sri Lanka because of a large variety of factors varying from growing condition to handling at keep level. Fruits and vegetables are the most perishable produce. When considering Sri Lanka, pumpkin holds a priority in post-harvest losses. Not only are losses a waste of food but they also show a similar waste of human effort, agriculture inputs livelihoods, investment and scarce sources such as water. This is one of the major issues in Sri Lanka that we identified. The objectives of this article were both the utilization of pumpkin which produces in excess amount, for product development and partially replacing wheat flour with pumpkin flour. The manufacturing of extruded snacks with pumpkin flour is the healthy food alternative regarding the utilization of pumpkin to reduce the post-harvest loss.