Formulation and nutritional evaluation of weaning food from locally available cereals and legumes

Abstract:

According to UNICEF, nearly 36% of Tanzanian children under two years receive complementary foods that fall short of minimum dietary diversity standards. This research formulated three weaning food blends from locally available ingredients — F1 (rice flour 60% + green gram dal 25% + jaggery 15%), F2 (wheat flour 55% + Bengal gram dal 25% + jaggery 15% + skim milk powder 5%), and F3 (finger millet flour 60% + soybean flour 25% + jaggery 15%) — and evaluated their proximate composition, mineral content, in vitro protein digestibility, viscosity, and sensory acceptability. F2 recorded the highest protein (17.3%), iron (7.2 mg 100 g⁻¹), calcium (148 mg 100 g⁻¹), and in vitro protein digestibility (78.4%). All three formulations met or exceeded the WHO/ICMR minimum of 15% protein on a dry-weight basis except F3, which reached only 12.6%. Viscosity at a 3:1 water-to-flour ratio fell below the recommended 1,500 cP ceiling for infant foods in all blends. Sensory panellists rated F2 highest for overall acceptability (7.9 on a 9-point scale). F2 offers a nutritionally dense, low-cost weaning food option for rural Morogoro Region.