OPTIMIZATION OF NOODLE FORMULATION USING COMMERCIALIZED EMPTY FRUIT BUNCH PALM OIL CARBOXYLMETHYL CELLULOSE (CMC) AND FLOURS WITH DIFFERENT PROTEIN CONTENT
Carboxylmethyl cellulose (CMC) is extracted from empty fruit bunches of oil palm, which usually comes from industrial waste. The focus of this research is to recycle cellulose from the oil palm tree to produce a food product which is noodles. In this research, the noodles were produced from commercialized CMC (0 – 2%) by using 15 different formulations with different types of flour such as high protein flour, wheat flour and low protein flour which provides an added factor to improve texture. Proximate, physicochemical analysis and sensory test were conducted in order to determine the noodle’s nutrient content, colour, texture and acceptance level among the consumer panels. Based on the proximate analysis, high protein flour produced noodles that were similar to the positive control product which was a commercialized yellow noodles (Mi Kuning Rakyat). Fat, crude fiber, moisture and ash content did not show a significant difference among the formulation tested (p>0.05) because the CMC used and different types of flour with different protein content used did not affect them. The compression test that was used to analyze texture in the physicochemical analysis revealed that Formulation 3 (F3), which was made up from high protein flour and 1% (w/w) CMC, had highest hardness with a mean score of 3.13 ± 0.06N and was significantly different (p<0.05) in comparison with other 14 formulations. This indicates that the use of high protein flour helps in the formation of gluten network in the noodles while an optimum amount of CMC (1.0%) gives a good texture to the noodles. For hedonic test, Formulation 4 (F4), which was made up of 1.5% (w/w) CMC and high protein flour which contain 11.5-13.5% of protein, has a highest acceptance level for consumer due to a good taste and a better texture. Therefore, the integration of high fibrous flour from an empty fruit bunch of oil palm in the form of commerciallized CMC with flours with different protein content into noodle formulation can produce an improved noodles' quality that have higher acceptance level among the consumers.