ABSTRACT

The use of maize, soybean and mungbean flour blends in the formulation of complementary foods was studied. The maize, soybean and mungbean flours were blended in the ratios of 40:30:30, 50:25:25, 50:30:20 and 60:10:30, respectively and used to formulate complementary foods. The proximate, mineral, vitamin and sensory properties of the formulated products were determined using standard analytical methods. The moisture content of the samples were significantly high on the gruel samples and ranged from 6.03% to 7 .11 %. The fat, and crude fibre contents of the blends showed similar increases from 3.49 -5.12%, 2.51-3.64% respectively, the ash and protein content ranged from 1.31-2.24% and 14.50%-16.29 while the carbohydrate ranged from 65.17-72.87% control sample recording the highest. The mineral composition of the complementary foods showed that the iron, calcium, zinc, potassium, phosphorus and zinc contents of the samples varied between 14.17 mg/l OOg - 21.61 mg/l00g, 0.95- 74.25 mg/l00g. 0.18 mg/l00g to 17.02 mg/lOOg, 68.75- 226.90 mg/l00g, and 2.99 mg/100g -4.41 mg/l00g, respectively. The vitamin content of the samples also showed that the vitamin A, Vitamin B;, Vitamin B», Vitamin BJ, Vitamin Bs and Vitamin C contents of the complementary foods ranged from 3.81 mg/l00g-300.50 mg/l00g, 0.68 mg/l00g - 1.83 mg/lO0g, 0.59 mg/IOOg - 2.24mg/l 00g, 1.85 mg/l 00g - 4.50 mg/100, 0.17 mg/1 00g to 0.82 mg/1 OOg and 083.10mg/100g-3.04mg/100g. The control sample recorded highest in vitamin A and C while vitamin Bs had the least values for all the vitamins evaluated. The anti-nutrient content of the complementary foods showed that phytate, tannin, oxalate and ranged from 0.02 mg/g - 0.07 mg/g, 0.02mg/100g - 0.04 mg/l00g, 0.23 mg/l00g to 0.45 mg/lO0g and 5.41 mg/l00g to 6.57 mg/lO0g. The sensory evaluation of the complementary food showed that there were not difference in all the samples in terms of taste, flavor, appearance and general acceptability. Although the sample meets the consumers' sensory attributes, it is not relatively the highest in other nutrients. The study, however, showed that the developed complementary food samples could help to alleviate the problem of protein-energy malnutrition among infants and children in developing countries by providing them with adequate nutrients needed for optimum growth and development.