Comparison of nutritional composition between palm kernel fibre and the effect of the supercritical fluid extraction on its quality

High fibre foods start to gain much attention in the industrial world, due to its importance in human health for treating and prevention wide range of diseases. Finding new and cheap source of dietary fibre is highly needed. Palm kernel cake which is wastes produced after oil extraction from palm kernels is increasing in volume as the oil palm industry expands in many parts of Asia and Africa. The aim of this study is to compare the nutritional composition of palm kernel fibre derived from PKC samples: Supercritical carbon dioxide - palm kernel cake with testa (SC-PKt), supercritical carbon dioxide-palm kernel cake without testa (SC-PK), and palm kernel cake from palm oil mill. Supercritical carbon dioxide was used to extract the residual oil from Palm kernel with and without testa at temperature of 80 degrees C and pressure 41.36 MPa. Total dietary fibre, crude fibre, crude protein, ash and moisture were determined in these samples and compared with palm kernel cake from palm oil mill. The results showed that the palm kernel with testa contains the highest amount of the total dietary fibre with 63.06 g/100g sample, crude fibre 8.49 g/100g, crude protein content 14.40 g/100g, ash 4.43 g/100g sample with p < 0.05. The mean moisture content of the Palm Kernel with testa was 3.26 which is least than the other samples. The results of this study suggest that, extracting oil using supercritical can minimize the waste by producing a new and cheap source of fibre with good nutrition. Moreover, the defatted palm kernel with testa considered superior than the defatted palm kernel without testa and palm kernel cake, and could be used as a good and cheap source of dietary fibre for human consumption. However, others tests are still needed to confirm it validity for human consumption. (c) 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of 11th International Congress on Engineering and Food (ICEF 11) Executive Committee.