Commercial fast food and traditional snack food of Bangladesh: II. content of proximate nutrients, sodium, potassium, dietary fiber and energy

Abstract

Some selected commercial fast food (FF) and traditional snack (TS) foods (96 samples
of 12 items) were analyzed for proximate composition, dietaiy fiber (DF), salt, and
energy value. Results showed that nondaiiy FF contained lower amount of lipid than
dairy products. The highest amount of protein, fat and carbohydrate was found in
Beefburger (14.62 ± 4.57 g), Eclair (41.92 ± 1.67 g) and Chicken pizza (44.70 ± 9.40
g) respectively per 100 g fresh sample. A similar amount of DF (1.57 to 5.43 g per 100
g fresh sample) was found in all FF examined except Eclair, which contained the
highest amount (5.43 g/100 g fresh sample). Comparison of estimated energy value of
dairy and nondaiiy FF showed that daiiy products contained approximately 50 to 150
Kcal o f more energy per 100 g fresh sample than that o f nondairy FF products.
Among TS foods, sweets contained lower amount o f protein and fat but higher
amount o f carbohydrate than nonsweet TS on fresh weight basis. However, both
sweets and nonsweet TS food showed almost same amount of calories on fresh weight
basis. The salt content o f nondairy FF was found relatively higher than dairy FF and
traditional sweets. The highest amount of sodium was found in Chicken patties
(797.01 ± 164.49 g per 100 g fresh sample). On the other hand, nonsweet TS, Singara
and Samocha contained more than 500 mg of sodium per 100 g fresh sample. The
nutrient and energy content of the examined FF and TS foods were found comparable
to reported values. The results presented here are significant because they emerged
from the first attempt at obtaining direct analytical data for FF and TS foods “as
consumed” by the Bangladeshi urban population.