Chemical and Sensory Evaluation of Cereal-Based Complementary Foods Supplemented with Soybean and Monkey Kola

Different blends of cereal-based complementary foods were formulated from millet/maize, soybean and yellow monkey kola flours. Seven blends were formulated from maize (Zea mays) flour, partially defatted soybean (Glycine max) flour and monkey kola (Cola parchycarpa) flour while seven other blends were formulated from millet (Pennisetum americanium) flour, partially defatted soybean flour and monkey kola flour. All the blends were evaluated for proximate and sensory attributes with a branded complementary food as control (cerelac maize). Samples that conformed to set standards in the proximate parameters and had the highest sensory scores were further evaluated for amino acid profile. Results showed that moisture content of the millet and maize-based blends ranged from 5.15 to 6.73% and 5.15 to 8.29%, respectively. They all fell within the codex requirement of <10%. Ash content for all the blends were less than 3% while fat content of both millet and maize-based blends increased with increase in substitution level. Protein content of samples E1, F1, G1, F2 and G2 exceeded 15% acceptable limit. Crude fibre content of all samples conformed to <5% set by many organisations. All test samples were in line with codex standard of not less than 58% in terms of carbohydrate content. Energy content ranged from 387.87 to 402.73 kcal/100 g and 379.34 to 399.43 kcal/100 g for millet and maize-based blends, respectively. The results of the sensory evaluation of the products showed that the commercial product scored higher than the experimental blends and that the millet-based blend did not differ significantly (p>0.05) from the maize-based blend in terms of overall acceptability. The amino acid profile result showed that all essential amino acids were present in the test samples, in amounts exceeding the minimum requirement for complementary foods.