Formulation and Nutritional Evaluation of Complementary Foods Prepared from Maize, Sorghum, Groundnut, Crayfish, and Beans

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop local, readily available, cheap, nutritious and easy to prepare complementary food (CFs) for infants and young children (IYC) and serve as panacea to reduce malnutrition in Nigeria. An experimental study and cross-sectional survey were conducted in Ijebu-Ode Local Government Area, Ogun State, Nigeria. Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), maize (Zea mays), beans (Vigna unguiculata), groundnut (Arachis hypogae) and crayfish (Scientific name) were obtained from a local market in Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria. The cereals were manually cleaned and processed into flour using standardized fermentation and germination methods. Sensory evaluation was conducted among twenty-one randomly selected mothers of IYC. With AOAC, proximate analysis results of the CFs showed that moisture content ranged from 4.00±1.79% for samples 1 (Germinated maize, beans groundnut and crayfish; 70:10:10:10) to 9.12% for sample 10 (fermented sorghum, beans groundnut and crayfish ; 70:10:10:10). The crude protein content ranged from 17.84±1.12% for samples 16 (Maize and sorghum, beans groundnut and crayfish; 70:10:10:10) to 25.63 ±0.89% for sample 6 (fermented maize, beans groundnut and crayfish; 50:30:10:10). Sensory evaluation of the best six complementary foods with the highest protein contents was conducted. In terms of colour and overall acceptability, sample 10 was most acceptable and was not significantly (p ≤0.05) different from others, sing Duncan Multiple Range Test. The protein content of the complementary foods increased as the content of both legumes increased with crayfish content as being constant. Complementary foods prepared from sorghum, groundnut and crayfish is most acceptable, and therefore it is recommended