Storage Evaluation of Nutritionally Enriched Weaning Food for Infants

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.