Quality Assessment of Weaning Food from Blends of Sorghum, Mung Beans and Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato Blends

Prevalence of Malnutrition continues to be a plague ravaging children all over the world especially in developing countries such as Nigeria. Development of inexpensive, nutritious and readily available foods can mitigate against the challenges of malnutrition.

Objective: To investigate the effect of different formulations of sorghum, mung beans and orange fleshed sweet potato flour blends on the proximate, functional, pasting properties and the sensory attributes of the weaning food blends.

Methodology: Weaning foods were formulated from Sorghum grains (S), Mung beans (M) and (O) Orange fleshed sweet potato in ratios 40:45:15, 40:30:30, 25:35:45, 25:45:30 and 55:30:15 respectively. The blends of the weaning food were analyzed for the proximate, functional, pasting properties and sensory evaluation using standard methods. Data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance and means were separated using Duncan’s multiple range test p<0.05.

Results: The proximate analysis of the blends had moisture content (8.15-9.58%), crude fat (1.47-2.76%), crude protein (14.00-18.04%), crude fibre (0.34-0.82%), total ash (1.86-2.52%) and carbohydrate (68.02-73.62%). Functional analysis: Bulk density 0.55-0.65 (g/cm3), swelling power (4.64-7.13%), solubility index (4.00-16.50%), water absorption capacity 1.58 (g/gcm3). Pasting: Peak viscosity: (87-214), Break-down viscosity (64-142), Trough viscosity (16-72), Final viscosity (50-175), Set back (28-103), Peak time (4.4.6 min), Pasting temperature (70.83°C). Blend S:M:O- 40:30:30 was rated most acceptable for all the parameters accessed.

Conclusion: The blends of the weaning food showed that it can be a good source of carbohydrate, crude protein, minerals with low bulkiness and good reconstitution properties which can be used to solve malnutrition challenges in Nigeria.