Nutritional Quality of Drum-processed and Extruded Composite Supplementary Foods

ABSTRACT: This study was conducted to evaluate the nutritional quality of ready‐to‐eat composite foods intended for supplementary feeding of preschool age children in Tanzania. Four supplementary foods, namely, corn‐bean‐sardine meal (CBSM), bean meal (BM), sorghum‐bean‐sardine meal (SBSM), and rice‐bean‐sardine meal (RBSM) were formulated according to the FAO/WHO/UNU guidelines. The food mixtures were extruded, drum‐processed, and cooked conventionally in the traditional way. Cooking doneness was evaluated by percent starch gelatinization and residual urease activity; biological qualities—true protein digestibility and growth performance—were evaluated using Sprague Dawley weanling rats. Efficiency in destroying phytohemagglutinins and the antinutritional factors, trypsin, chymotrypsin, and α‐amylase inhibitors, were also evaluated. Results of the study showed that starch gelatinization and residual urease activity were not significantly different (P > 0.05) between the extruded and drum‐processed diets. Relative to conventional cooking, starch gelatinization was 95% to 100% in extruded and 90% to 100% in drum‐processed products. Inactivation of urease activity ranged from 93% to 100% in extruded and 83% to 100% in drum‐processed diets. The true protein digestibilities were significantly (P≥ 0.05) higher when extruded foods, compared with drum‐processed and conventionally cooked foods, were fed to experimental animals. Animals fed extruded products gained more weight relative to those fed drum‐processed and conventionally cooked foods. Destruction of phytohemagglutinins ranged between 91% to 97% in extruded and between 90% to 95% in the conventionally cooked and drum‐processed foods. Extrusion, drum processing, and conventional cooking also resulted in significant destruction of the antinutritional factors trypsin, chymotrypsin, and a‐amylase inhibitors. These results suggest that extrusion and drum processing of cereal‐bean‐sardine composite foods result in products meeting the required nutritional quality.