Promoting Fruit Consumption Through Granola Bars of a Tropical Flavour

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to offer an alternative snack to school students with the introduction of granola bars that were made of famous local fruit, jackfruit. It was discovered that most school students preferred to eat unhealthy snacks and consumed less healthy meals such as vegetables and fruits. Hence, these granola bars were introduced as a healthier snack for them as a LIFE: International Journal of Health and Life-Sciences ISSN 2454-5872 24 way of mitigating their obsession with snacks with fewer nutrients and higher calories. Jackfruit used as the main ingredient of this granola bar to offer a new flavour that the students might find very familiar and appealing as well as to promote these tropical fruits among the locals and possibly, tourists and foreign visitors. The subjects for this study were 30 respondents from a local neighbourhood who sampled this granola bar and rated it based on a specific set of criteria. Their opinions were analysed to study their level of approval of this snack. The findings showed that the respondents had positive responses on the product and some offered constructive feedback on how to commercially improve the product. It could be deduced that the jackfruit granola bar has the potential to be marketed as a healthy snack. However, more research should be done in determining how effective this product could be in tackling obesity among school teenagers.

Full text

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Kiat et al., 2021
Volume 6 Issue 3, pp. 23-34
Date of Publication: 19th January 2021
DOI- https://dx.doi.org/10.20319/lijhls.2021.63.2334
This paper can be cited as: Kiat, I. C. C., Adnan, S. Y., Maliki, S., Seleh, A. A., Usit, K., & Idek, S., (2021).
Promoting Fruit Consumption Through Granola Bars of a Tropical Flavour. LIFE: International Journal of
Health and Life-Sciences, 6(3), 23-34.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial 4.0 International License.
To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ or send a letter to
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PROMOTING FRUIT CONSUMPTION THROUGH GRANOLA
BARS OF A TROPICAL FLAVOUR
Ian Chan Chun Kiat
Culinary Arts, Keningau Vocational College, Keningau, Sabah, Malaysia
ianchn1234@gmail.com
Siti Yusrina Adnan
Culinary Arts, Keningau Vocational College, Keningau, Sabah, Malaysia
lilxzryna@gmail.com
Saumon Maliki
Culinary Arts, Keningau Vocational College, Keningau, Sabah, Malaysia
saumonmaliki@yahoo.com
Aleena Ameera Seleh
Culinary Arts, Keningau Vocational College, Keningau, Sabah, Malaysia
ameeraseleh@gmail.com
Kimberly Usit
Culinary Arts, Keningau Vocational College, Keningau, Sabah, Malaysia
kimberly.v.usit@gmail.com
Dr. Sirhajwan Idek
English Language Department, Keningau Vocational College, Keningau, Sabah, Malaysia
sirhaj87@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this research was to offer an alternative snack to school students with the
introduction of granola bars that were made of famous local fruit, jackfruit. It was discovered that
most school students preferred to eat unhealthy snacks and consumed less healthy meals such as
vegetables and fruits. Hence, these granola bars were introduced as a healthier snack for them as a

LIFE: International Journal of Health and Life-Sciences
ISSN 2454-5872
24
way of mitigating their obsession with snacks with fewer nutrients and higher calories. Jackfruit
used as the main ingredient of this granola bar to offer a new flavour that the students might find
very familiar and appealing as well as to promote these tropical fruits among the locals and
possibly, tourists and foreign visitors. The subjects for this study were 30 respondents from a local
neighbourhood who sampled this granola bar and rated it based on a specific set of criteria. Their
opinions were analysed to study their level of approval of this snack. The findings showed that the
respondents had positive responses on the product and some offered constructive feedback on how
to commercially improve the product. It could be deduced that the jackfruit granola bar has the
potential to be marketed as a healthy snack. However, more research should be done in
determining how effective this product could be in tackling obesity among school teenagers.
Keywords
Jackfruit, Granola Bars, Snack, Obesity
____________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
Malaysians consume fewer fruits than the recommended amount which can be worrying
since fruit consumption, along with eating vegetables, is pivotal in maintaining a healthy lifestyle
and lower the risk of illnesses. The Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority also is known as
FAMA (Chern, 2019) discovered that the average Malaysian only consumed 120gm of fruits daily
and this was below the number of fruits that World Health Organization (WHO) recommended us
to take which was 146kg a year. As a result of this, the association aimed to promote healthy eating
habit among school students. Healthy Ministry (Bernama 2017) revealed that over 80 per cent
Malaysians did not regularly take fruits and vegetables. This implied a deteriorating dietary style
among the people. The ministry urged Malaysians to consume more fruits to help tackle obesity and
other health-related ailments.
The concept of food innovation practised by food industry suggests that fruits can be turned
into products that can attract more people to consume it. National University of Malaysia (Centre
for Communication) argued that fruit intake can reduce the risk of many illnesses particularly heart
diseases, hypertension, strokes and cancer. The university explained that fruits and vegetables can
be processed into innovative products that were more appealing such as juices and bars. This
research project aimed to identify the effects of granola bar blended with fruit that is native to the
island and the region, jackfruits.

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2. Problem Statement
Malaysians consume high carbohydrate food than ever especially in the urban areas where
fast-food restaurants have sprung up in every corner. According to Norsyahidah (2016), Malaysians
in urban areas have become too dependent on fast food restaurants that serve cooked, processed and
ready-to-eat meals with limited or no fruits or vegetables. Norimah et al. (2008) argued that
Malaysians are unaware of the vast benefits of fruits and vegetables.
Geographical and socioeconomic variables heavily influence children’s awareness of the
nutritious and health values of eating fruits, along with vegetables, as well as their intake of this
food. Shah An Ali, Mohd Nazir and Abdul Manaf (2020) discovered in their research that children
of indigenous backgrounds like Malay who lived in the urban areas had more awareness of the
health benefits of fruits and vegetables than those who lived in the rural areas. It was also found that
children from low-income families had a low intake of fruits and vegetables.
Teenagers in the rural area of the Malaysian state, Sabah, exhibited a similar tendency to
most adults and children in the country as they consumed fewer fruits than the recommended
amounts. This might be attributed to several factors such as geographical and socioeconomic factors
since most of them came from families of low incomes and they had limited access to fresh fruits
and vegetables. Due to these factors, fruits and vegetables could be slightly expensive for these
families. Most food sold in schools, markets and restaurants were greasy products with high calories
that posed health risks to those who consumed this regularly.
Therefore, this research project would like to examine the potential of food innovation,
jackfruit granola bar, as an alternative option that may help increase young adults’ intake of fruits.
3. Research Objectives
The main goal of this research project was to examine the potential of this jackfruit granola
bar by analysing the level of acceptance that the target population had on this food innovation.
These could be broken into three main objectives:
1. To encourage the target population, teenagers and adults, to consume fruits to improve their
dietary styles by introducing a granola bar of a tropical flavour.
2. To analyze the target group’s level of approval on this food innovation.
4. Eating in the Absence of Hunger
Faith, et al. (2006) proposed that eating in the absence of hunger (EAH) is a form of
disinhibited eating that might lead to obesity among children who are more vulnerable to excessive
consumption of calories than any other group. Birth, Fisher and Davidson (2003) explained that

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children tend to consume additional calories by binging on snacks after their main meals. It was
argued that controlling children’s eating schedule and amount of food to be eaten during their
mealtimes without letting them to naturally respond to their hunger and satiety might be harmful. It
could disrupt their ability to self-regulate their eating habit which eventually developed into
disinhibited eating (Rollins, Savage, Fisher, & Birch, 2015). Parents who pressure their children to
eat beyond their satiety might influence the children to develop eating routines where they exceed
the recommended intake of calories on daily basis. This might remain persistent as they enter
adolescence, where they become more conscious over their appearance and obesity, affects not just
their physical health but also their self-esteem (Remy, Issanchou, Chabanet, Boggio, & Nicklaus,
2015). It was believed that many school teenagers who were at risk of developing obesity were
influenced by their childhood experience of being pressured to eat even though they were not
hungry or did not have a desire for food during the time they received the nudge to do so.
5. Fruit Consumption among Malaysians
Malaysians’ fruit intake appeared to be declining gradually that it was below the
recommended amounts on regular basis. Institute for Public Health (2015) found that fruit
consumption among Malaysian adults declined from over 14% in 2011 to 9% in 2015 and a study
on young adults in the country indicated that majority of them, 68%, took fruit lower than the
national recommendation. Another research revealed that 90% failed to take adequate amounts of
fruit. There are many benefits of fruit consumption and one of the major benefits is the reduction of
obesity (Weerts & Amoran, 2011). However, Clemens et al. (2015) claimed that fruit juice might
contain more sugar and people are not recommended to substitute eating actual fruits with drinking
fruit juices. This implied that any companies that are experimenting on food innovations that are
based on fruits should consider their nutritious content and the possible health risks before
recommending it as a healthy alternative.
Many factors influence people to eat fruits. Saba et al. (2010) cited sensory appeal like the
appearance and smell of food products is an important determinant of a person’s preference
(Stewart-Knox et al., 2015). Mal (2014) singled out time constraint and familiarity as huge factors
for people’s selection of food as they preferred to consume something that required less preparation
time and it was likely that they chose fruits that they were more familiar with. Othman et al. (2012)
explained several factors like attitude, habit, social influences and availability of fruits might have a
greater influence on people’s fruit intake while Thomson and Ravia (2011) attributed the increase of
fruit intake to social marketing. Since this project sought to explore the potential of granola bars

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blended with a famous tropical fruit that is native to specific areas in Asia, there are various ways of
how this food product can influence people to consume it.
6. Healthy Snack as an Alternative
There has been a recommendation on manufacturing and marketing healthier snacks as an
alternative to satiate the craving that majority of people have on consuming snacks on regular basis.
Kong (2011) proposed that snack meals can be a source for the complementary intake of fruit,
vegetables and fibre-rich food if they are taken within a well-controlled snacking pattern. According
to the reports from Healthy Returns (2018), the move towards healthier snacks is a more practical
solution for low-income families since snack consumption plays a role in meeting the needs of such
families for the affordable intake of calories. Food producers in the UK had been advised to
reformulate their food products like confectionery and biscuits to contain less sugar (Public Health
England, 2018). This justified the experiment on the potential production and marketing of granola
bars with less sugar and healthier content to cater to the majority of adolescents’ habits of taking
snacks.
7. Granola Bars
A granola bar is made of granola mixed with other ingredients like syrup, oats and nuts that
are pressed, baked and shaped like bars and it is considered a convenient snack food or breakfast
food (Weeks, 2019). Due to its content, this food may offer many health benefits. It can reduce
inflammation, improve the level of blood pressure, stabilize the level of cholesterol, level of blood
sugar, and help maintain gut health. It also helps in controlling appetite. However, it is also
important to take note of several caveats since granola can be high in calories with added fats and
sugars (Mandl, 2019). This research project added one main ingredient into this popular snack,
jackfruit, and attempted to elicit people’s opinions on the taste, the texture and its commercial
potential.
8. Jackfruits
The jackfruit is native to Asian regions particularly in India and Malaysia (Morton, 2016). It
contains a variety of nutrients and it has many health benefits that include the controlled level of
blood sugar, protection against diseases and improved heart health (Healthline). Jackfruits are
seasonal fruits that are usually available during a certain period of times in a year.
Nurul Izzah et al. (2012) ranked banana and apples as the two most consumed fruits by
Malaysians. These two were followed by watermelons, oranges, papayas, mangos and pears. Some

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tropical fruits that are native to Asia are only available during their seasons, it was discovered that
durians, rambutans, jackfruits, dokongs and mangosteen were the most consumed local fruits.
Despite the low price of these fruits during their peak seasons, the price did not influence the locals’
preferences of these fruits over others. This implied that the locals had little interest in local fruits.
This might be attributed to several factors; the limited availability of the fruits, the lack of
promotion of these fruits that might be overshadowed by durians that are very popular among locals
and the scarcity of food innovations from these fruits that are commercially successful. Hence, this
research project experimented with granola bars by blending the essence of the sought-after tropical
jackfruit into this snack.
9. The Making of Jackfruit Granola bars
These were the ingredients and procedure on how to bake granola bars with jackfruit as its main
ingredients.
Figure 1: The Ingredients of the Jackfruit Granola Bar
The ingredients were 100 grams of dried jackfruit, 100 grams of almond and sunflower
seeds, 100 grams of butter, 150 grams of honey, 4 teaspoons of vanilla extract, 150 grams of brown
sugar, 200 grams of oats and 50 grams of shredded coconut. There were nine main steps on how to
prepare this granola bar.
1) Preheat oven to 170c
Figure 2: The Second Step

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2) Cut dried jackfruit and almonds into smaller pieces
Figure 3: The Third and Fourth Step
3) Melt butter in a large saucepan and pour honey, vanilla extra and brown sugar into it
4) Stir it properly until these ingredients become well-blended
Figure 4: The Fifth Step
5) Add oats, chopped nuts, dried jackfruits and coconut shreds into the mixture and blend it
properly
Figure 5: The Sixth Step
6) Line a baking pan with a parchment paper and pour the mixture into it
7) Bake in preheat oven at 170c for 20 minutes or until the mixture turns golden brown
8) Allow it to cool for approximately 15 - 20 minutes

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Figure 6: The Final Step
9) Cut baked oats into bars
10. Methodology
The target group was approximately 30 respondents from a rural neighbourhood in
Keningau, one of the districts located in the interior region of the state. The main instrument was a
set of questions that these respondents answered after they were required to sample the granola bars.
The purpose of this instrument was to analyse the target population by eliciting their ratings on
seven criteria. The ratings were assigned into four categories. The first two categories (1 and 2)
indicated disapproval while the next two categories (3 and 4) signified approval. If more than 50
percent of the respondents rated one category over the other, the category would be considered as
the perception of the majority.
11. Findings
The findings from the survey were used to analyse the public perception of this snack. The
survey contained four levels of agreement: strongly disagree (1). disagree (2), agree (3) and strongly
agree (4). This could illustrate to what extent the target group approved each aspect of the granola
bar that they were required to evaluate.
Table 1: Results of the Questionnaires
No
Statement
Levels of agreement.
1
2
3
4
1.
Ideal portion
4
21
5
2.
Ideal flavour
20
10
3.
An ideal blending of jackfruit with the rest of the
ingredients
1
14
15

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4.
Ideal texture
1
2
17
10
5.
Ideal appearance
18
12
6.
Appealing colouring
2
17
11
7.
Appealing aroma
1
16
13
Two main features of the food product received approval from all 30 respondents while
there was at least one person expressed an unfavourable view on the other features of the jackfruit
tropical fruit. Four respondents did not favour the portion of the bar and three did not find the
texture of the product as ideal. Overall, majority of the respondents seemed to have positive
opinions on the different evaluation aspects of the granola bar.
It could be deduced from the findings from the survey, all respondents expressed their
approval on the flavour, and appearance of the jackfruit bars. Some of the respondents did not find
the portion, the colour, the aroma and how well that the jackfruit flavour satisfactory. It could also
be deduced that the texture of the bars still needed to be improved.
There were a few suggestions from the respondents on how to improve this product. One of
the suggestions highlighted the need to reduce the amount of sugar in the product in line with the
amount of sugar that healthy bars available in the market usually has. Few commented that the
granola bars should be made more appealing for children since it could substitute the unhealthy
food that children tend to snack on. Many claimed that a variety of ingredients such as nuts and
fruits could improve the taste of the bars.
According to a research made by Letona, et al. (2014), they found out that children
prioritized taste in selecting which snack they would like to buy and a specific ingredient associated
with the taste serves as the main reason they choose this particular snack. Based on Elliot 2009,
children preferred certain snacks due to its specific ingredients like chocolate, cheese and grape.
The responses from the target population revealed their high level of approval on the taste of the
jackfruit in the granola bars. Thus, school students might prefer this granola bar over other snacks
if the main ingredient, jackfruit, is successfully marketed as its novelty.
It was discovered that Elliott and Brierley (2012) that visual elements of snack packaging
played a vital role in children’s choice as the majority of them cited drawings, characters and
combination of colours as the main features that they considered in choosing their snacks. This
corroborated the findings from the survey where many of the respondents suggested that the
appearance of the food product should be improved to make it more appealing to children.
However, they also argued that it was likely that children would not choose snacks that displayed

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fruits or vegetables on the packaging since they associated this with sourness. Therefore, the
packaging and appearance of this jackfruit granola bar should be filled with colours, drawing and
perhaps a character. While the main ingredient, jackfruit, should be highlighted as children tend to
associate specific ingredients with favourable taste, the packaging should be designed in a way that
the fruit is optimally presented.
12. Conclusion
The findings of this research indicated that the locals or at least students and teachers might
have strong approval on food innovations that are based on plants native to their regions as
evidenced by their high level of approval on every aspect of the granola bar. The findings which
showed how the respondents were more interested in the taste and appearance of the bar seemed
consistent with what Letona, et al. (2014) discovered in her research that children made their
decisions on which snack to eat based on taste and visual elements. With major improvements on
the flavour of the jackfruit granola bar, along with its appearance and packaging, the snack might
have commercial potential to be marketed to the locals and by extension, tourists. If this proves to
be commercially viable particularly among the target population which is school teenagers, there is
a possibility that most teenagers will choose this as their regular snack. This might reduce their
intake of other unhealth snacks and subsequently, prevent them from becoming obese. However,
there are many other factors that need to be considered in tackling obesity among teenagers in order
to attain a practical and comprehensive solution.
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