Chemical, sensory and biological evaluation of maize-bambaranut based complementary foods

Abstract

processed into flours by toasting, fermentation and malting, and used for preparing complementary foods at 60:40 (maizebambaranut) ratio. The proximate composition, functional properties and sensory qualities of the diets were also evaluated through feeding trial alongside a standard diet with casein as a source of protein. Results showed that the toasted and the fermented complementary foods had protein values of 16.12% and 15.18% respectively, which compared favourably with those of commercial infant foods - Nutrend (16.00% protein) and Cerelac (15.00% protein). Results of the biological evaluation of the protein quality showed that the toasted complementary food was not significantly different (p > 0.05) from the control (casein) diet in all the qualities evaluated, having a PER (Protein  Efficiency Ratio) of 2.28 which exceeded the minimum (2.1) recommended for complementary foods. The biological performance of the fermented and germinated diets were significantly lower (p < 0.05) than that of the standard. However, the result of the sensory evaluation showed that all the complementary food samples compared favourably with the control (Nutrend) diet in colour, flavour, texture and general acceptability. Based on the biological performance of the toasted diet, it is recommended for use in households and should be manufactured by food industries.