SENSORY EVALUATION AND PROXIMATE COMPOSITION OF COMPLEMENTARY FOOD FORMULATED FROM COMPOSITE FLOUR OF ORANGE FLESHED SWEET POTATO AND CATFISH

Abstract

Complementary Foods (CF) are foods other than breast milk after exclusive breastfeeding.
Infants become malnourished at this age when fed with CF of poor nutritional value. This
study was aimed at conducting Sensory Evaluation (SE) and determining proximate
composition of CF formulated from composite flour of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP)
and catfish. Experimental research design was adopted. OFSP and catfishes were purchased
from a farm in Port Harcourt and a market in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State respectively. The food
items were processed into flour at the JAGAEE Laboratory, Ibadan. Twenty nursing mothers
who attend Primary Health Centres in Ijebu-Ode Local Government Area were randomly
selected for SE, gruel of OFSP and catfish flours were blended into 70:30, 60:40 and 50:50
with Cereal Based Custard as control, (Samples A-D respectively). The gruel was prepared
in the respondents’ presence for SE.

Proximate Analysis (PA) was conducted on the samples
using Association of Official Analytical Chemist. Sensory data were analysed using Duncan
Multiple Range Test/Analysis of Variance. Sensory analyses showed Sample B as best in
terms of overall acceptability (8.52±0.72 a). CF formulated from OFSP and catfish had higher
nutritional value and generally acceptable compared to control. PA result revealed protein
content as higher (11.15+
0.13a) in Sample A, while Sample D had the lowest protein (0.60 +
0.2d) content. Sample C had the highest ash content (2.12 +
0.06a) when compared with other
samples. It is therefore recommended that awareness on preparing CF using OFSP and
catfish should be created among nursing mothers.