The nutritional composition of fruit jams in the Malaysian market

Fruit jams are preserved fruits and sugars normally canned or sealed for long-term storage. Jam making involves the disruption of the fruit tissue followed by heating with added water and sugar to activate its pectin before being put into containers. Processes that expose foods to high levels of heat may cause some nutrient loss. Hence, the objective of this study was to evaluate the nutritional composition of four commonly consumed fruit jams that are available in the Malaysian market. Different brands (n=6) of each type of fruit jams (grape, apricot, blueberry and strawberry) were sampled from supermarkets in Klang Valley, Malaysia. The sampling method used was stratified random sampling. The fruit jams were analyzed for the presence of 27 important nutrients using Association of Official Agricultural Chemists (AOAC) official methods of analysis. This study showed that fruit jams are a good source of energy and carbohydrate. The fruits jams have very low levels of fatty acids. Fruit jams may provide an affordable and convenient source of energy and carbohydrate. The data can be utilized to contribute to the enhancement of Malaysia Food Composition Database.