QUALITY CHANGES IN FUNCTIONAL PASTA DURING STORAGE IN TWO DIFFERENT PACKAGING MATERIALS: LDPE AND BOPP AMIR GULL 1 , KAMLESH PRASAD and PRADYUMAN KUMAR Department of Food Engineering and Technology, Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Longowal 148106, Punjab, India 1 Corresponding author. TEL: 91-9517473742; FAX: 91-1672-280057; EMAIL: amirtral@gmail.com Received for Publication March 1, 2016 Accepted for Publication May 18, 2016 doi:10.1111/jfpp.13115 ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to evaluate the storage stability of millet pomace based functional pasta in two different packaging material LDPE (low density polyethyl- ene) and BOPP (bioxially oriented polypropylene) at accelerated condition. Qual- ity parameters like moisture content, total plate count, firmness, cooking loss and color of developed functional pasta was evaluated at an interval of 1 month dur- ing 4 months of storage period. Nonsignificant (P < 0.05) variations were observed in cooking loss and firmness. Moisture content and total plate count of functional pasta were significantly (P < 0.05) affected during the entire storage period. Color change (DE) also showed significant difference during accelerated condition. However, yeast, E. coli, mold and salmonella were not detected. Overall acceptability of product remained good even after 4 months of storage on the basis of determined parameters. The kinetics of quality parameter change was of zero order. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS The aim of this study was to investigate the storage stability of millet based func- tional pasta in two different packaging material LDPE (low density polyethylene) and BOPP (bioxially oriented polypropylene) at accelerated condition. No ample research has been found under the development of pasta products from millets. This type of study has not been extensively studied. Good storage quality of proc- essed food is an essential attribute to extend their utilization. During storage cooking loss and firmness of pasta remained unaffected. Deteriorative quality changes during storage follows zero-order kinetics. Quality changes were more in LDPE than in BOPP pouches. INTRODUCTION Pasta is a popular food product worldwide comprising dif- ferent shapes like spaghetti, vermicelli, etc. Commonly, it is made from unleavened dough of durum wheat flour mixed with water and formed into various shapes and sizes, finally cooked and served. Usually wheat based pasta is having low mineral content and provides only about 5% of the recom- mended dietary allowance for magnesium, zinc, calcium, potassium and sodium (Giese 1992). Different types of nutrient-enriched pasta have been developed viz. high fiber pasta by incorporating wheat bran (Sobota et al. 2015), ancient and modern wheat pasta (G elinas et al. 2016), gluten free pasta from flaxseed and rice (De Moura et al. 2016), soya and oat supplemented nontraditional pasta (Sandhu et al. 2015) and millet based functional pasta (Gull et al. 2016). Millets are having considerable potential in food and beverage preparations and being gluten free they are suitable for celiac disease patients (Taylor et al. 2006). Varieties of traditional foods have been made from millets for rural and urban households. Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) is important millet traditionally used to prepare various food products such as puddings, porridge and roti (Chaturvedi and Srivastava 2008), being rich in protein, iron, calcium, phosphorus, fiber and vitamin content. It has high calcium content than other common cereals. It acts as a potent source of antioxidant compounds (Sripriya et al. 1996). Pearl millet (Pennisetum typhoideum) is locally known as 1 Journal of Food Processing and Preservation 00 (2016) 00–00 V C 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Journal of Food Processing and Preservation ISSN 1745-4549