Quality Evaluation of Maize Based Complimentary Food Supplemented with Garden Peas

Abstract

The quality of complimentary food made from blends of maize ogi flour and garden pea flour was studied. Five blend ratios and codes of 100:0 (Sample A), 90:10 (Sample B), 80:20 (Sample C). 70:30 (Sample D) and 60:40 (Sample E) were developed for Maize ogi flour and garden pea flour respectively. Proximate compositions, functional and sensory properties of the samples were analyzed using standard methods. The result for the functional properties of the formulated complimentary food samples showed that the bulk density, water absorption capacity, oil absorption capacity, foaming capacity, swelling index and least gelation concentration ranged between 0.65 g/mL-0.75 g/mL, 1.73 g/g-1.87 g/g, 1.61 g/g-1.78 g/g, 5.97%-8.91%, 1.51 v/v-1.96 v/v and 6.00%-14.00% respectively. The proximate composition result revealed that the moisture, protein, fat, fibre, ash and carbohydrate contents were 7.34%-7.96%, 6.24%-12.04%, 1.11%-10.16%, 2.13%-4.27%, 0.66%-1.44% and 64.75%-81.90% accordingly. The sensory evaluation carried out on the formulated samples by the panelists showed that the sample incorporated with 10% garden pea flour was the most preferred in terms of appearance, aroma, texture, taste and overall acceptability. The study has indeed shown that it is possible to produce a maize based complimentary food supplemented with garden pea flour with up to 40% supplementation level. This will not only improve the macro- and micro-nutrient content, but it will also enhance the functional quality attributes as well. The formulated food product also has low moisture content, which will reduce drastically the proliferation of microorganisms which will ultimately guarantee the shelf life stability of the food. However, further studies should be carried out in exploring processing methods that produces Pea protein hydrolysate from Garden pea grains which can improve the protein content of the maize based complimentary food and help in meeting the protein demands of infants.