Quality Attributes of Tapioca Meal Fortified With Defatted Soy Flour

Abstract

Tapioca is a dried starchy powdery extract made from cassava which is popular in the eastern part of Nigeria. It has little or no protein thus it needs to be fortified with protein rich crops like soy beans. Enriched tapioca meal was produced from cassava starch and defatted soy flour. The cassava starch and defatted soy flour were mixed in the ratio 100:0, 95:5, 90:10, 85:15, and 80:20 to produce tapioca meal. Proximate and sensory analyses were evaluated for the tapioca meals. The proximate composition of tapioca meals ranged in values of 15.08 to 15.20%; 1.20 to 10.73%, 2.50 to 2.82%, 68.29 to 79.30%, 2.2 to 2.40% and 0.60 to 0.66% for moisture, crude protein, ash, carbohydrate, crude fiber and fat, respectively. There were significant differences (p < 0.05) in values obtained for protein, ash and carbohydrate contents. The sample with 80:20 cassava starch and defatted soy flour had the highest protein content and the least moisture content. It was also rated highest in terms of overall acceptability from the sensory evaluation. Consequently fortification of tapioca with defatted soy flour increased the nutritional quality of tapioca meal and thus a complete meal was obtained from this fortification. Such meal can be recommended for people that are overweight because of its relatively low fat content.