Nutritional, pasting and sensory properties of a weaning food from rice (Oryza sativa), soybeans (Glycine Max) and kent Mango (Mangifera indica) flour blends

The effective use of readily available and inexpensive sources of protein and micronutrients has become a major focus of research in recent years. This study sought to provide a nutritionally adequate and culturally acceptable weaning food for infants, as well as tap the potential of broken rice fraction as an alternative use for weaning formulation in Ghana. Flour from broken rice fractions in combination with soybeans and dried mangoes were used to develop four weaning formulations. Rice-Soy Mango (RSM) was prepared with 75% rice flour, 25% soybeans flours and 0% mango flour (RSM-0), and used as control; RSM-5 was prepared with 70% rice flour, 25% soybeans flours and 5% mango flour; RSM-10 was prepared with 65% rice flour, 25% soybeans flours and 10% mango flour while RSM-15 was prepared with 60% rice flour, 25% soybeans flours and 15% mango flour. The products were evaluated for their nutritional composition, sensory characteristics and pasting properties. All the three newly formulated rice-mango weaning food met the Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) for energy (393.71-403.25 KCal/100 g), protein (10.7-15.24 g/100 g), carbohydrates (68.44-73.87g/100 g), zinc (8.67-10.84 mg/d and vitamin C (13.96-17.79 mg/100 g) levels but not for iron (3.99-7.61 mg/100 g), fat (6.22-7.61 g/100 g) and calcium (87.2-111.7 mg/100 g). The beta-carotene levels ranged from 74.8 to 346.6 μg/100 g and showed significant differences. The pasting profile for the blends with low amounts of mango (RSM-5 and RSM-10) had a similar profile as the control (RSM-0), while RSM-15 had a lower profile. Among the three newly formulated blends, RSM-10 had the highest peak viscosity (74.0 BU) and highest final viscosity of 107 BU. The RSM-5, RSM-10 and RSM-15 were all lighter than RSM-0, albeit not significant. Increasing the content of mango resulted in the flour blend becoming more yellow. Even though the sensory quality of RSM-5 was the most preferred, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) observed between the sensory quality of all the three newly formulated products (RSM-5, RSM-10, RSM-15). The RSM-10 showed great potential and may be recommended and adopted for promotion within Ghanaian households based on its high nutritional and good sensory qualities.Key words: Weaning, Broken Rice, Mangoes, Pasting, Sensory, Vitamin A, Iron, Childre

Effect Of Two Storage Methods On The Keeping And Sensory Qualities Of Four Plantain Varieties

Plantains are an important cash and subsistence crop for the small-scale producers all year round in most parts of the tropical world including Ghana. Unfortunately, the plantain industry is still characterised by high post-harvest losses. Given that plantains are still used in the fresh state, any intervention aimed at reducing the losses must have this in mind. This paper is on a study of the influence of passive evaporative cooling (PEC) and modified atmosphere (MA) on the keeping and sensory qualities of four plantain varieties, Apem, Apentu, Oniaba and Asamienu, during the preclimacteric and post-climacteric storage stages. The PEC was achieved by using sawdust held in jute sacs moistened to varying moisture holding capacities (mhc) of 25%, 50% and 75%. The MA storage was achieved using a number of storage treatment combinations involving two types of low density polyethylene pouches, sawdust and potassium permanganate, as an ethylene scrubber. The PEC at 50% mhc produced the longest green life of 28, 26, 16, and 15 days and post-climacteric storage life of 34, 32, 22 and 21days for Apem, Apentu, Oniaba and Asamienu, respectively. Peel splitting disorder did not occur at any of the mhc levels used for the study. However, all varieties were susceptible to finger drop after three weeks. The MA exhibited varying effect (P< 0.001) on post-climacteric storage life. The use of KMnO4 increased green life by 3 to 6 days across treatments. Inclusion of moist sawdust in MA increased green life of Apem from 11 to 16 and further to 18 days when KMnO4 was added. Principal component analysis established that for any one variety of plantain, all treatments received statistically comparable scores for colour, flavour, mouth feel, taste and overall acceptability by the trained sensory panel of ten, except for texture. There were significant differences among varieties for all sensory attributes. Thus, PEC and MA can be promoted as low-cost systems for the handling and storage of plantain during its marketing