Abstract:
Complementary weaning foods play an
important role on child growth and development.
Therefore, breast milk alone is no longer sufficient for
infants. A study was carried out to develop incorporated
unpolished parboiled red rice, germinated green gram
and carrot flour complementary weaning food mixture
and to assess the quality of complementary weaning
food during storage. The complementary weaning food
mixtures were prepared from unpolished parboiled red
rice, germinated green gram and carrot flour in the ratios
of 100:00:00 (T1), 80:10:10 (T2), 70:20:10 (T3), 60:30:10
(T4), 50:40:10 (T5) and 40:50:10 (T6) respectively. These
complementary weaning food mixtures were packed in
aluminium laminated foil. Selected treatments such as
T3, T4 and T5 along with control were stored under
ambient conditions of average temperature of 30±1°C
and relative humidity of 75-80% for evaluation of the
shelf life. Complementary weaning food mixtures were
subjected to quality assessments at two weeks interval
for the entire storage period of 14th weeks. The results
of storage studies showed the declining trends in ash,
protein, fiber, fat and β-carotene and an increasing trend
in moisture of the complementary weaning food mixtures.
Among the treatments, the complementary weaning food
formulated with 30% of germinated green gram flour has
acceptable range of nutritional characteristics during
entire storage period. The sensory evaluation was carried
out to assess the quality attributes such as colour, texture,
taste and overall acceptability by a semi-trained panel of
consisting 30 members using a seven-point hedonic scale.
The ratings of the samples are ranged from 1 (dislike
very much) to 7 (like very much). From the results of
quality assessments, T4 complementary weaning food
mixture could be stored at above mentioned temperature
and relative humidity for a minimum period of 14 weeks
without any significant changes in the quality attributes.
