Proximate composition and dietary fibre content of various foods/rations processed to suit the Indian palate

The proximate composition and dietary fibre contents of various processed foods either in ready-to-eat (RTE) or easy-to-reconstitute (ETR) form have been evaluated. The RTE foods included flavoured chapathy (unleavened bread), spiced potato chapathy and chikki (peanut candy), while the ETR foods contained items such as precooked dehydrated (PD) khichdi, PD vegetable pulav (rice based item), PD green gram dal curry, instant upma mix and instant halwa mix. Three different rations formulated out of these products have also been studied. Among the individual items studied, instant halwa and upma mixes have been found to be calorie dense (5400 kcal kg−1 FW). The other items provided about 3000 to 4700 kcal kg−1 FW. The rations, on the other hand, provided about 3500 kcal person−1 day−1. All the food items except instant halwa mix were found to contain high amounts of insoluble and total dietary fibre (TDF). The rations were estimated to provide 60–70 g TDF person−1 day−1.