Abstract
Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is prevalent in South Africa, particularly among predominantly poor rural communities. Provitamin A (PVA)-biofortified crops could be used to address VAD; however, there are challenges of poor consumer acceptability. This study investigated the effect of replacing white maize and cream-fleshed sweet potato (CFSP) with PVA-biofortified maize and orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP), respectively, on consumer acceptability and perceptions of traditional dishes of rural communities in South Africa. Consumer acceptability of PVA-biofortified phutu (a crumbly maize porridge) served with either curried cabbage, chicken or bambara groundnut, separately, and boiled OFSP was evaluated by black South African adults (n = 120) using a five-point facial hedonic scale. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with 56 subjects recruited from the consumer panel to assess consumer perceptions of the food samples. The majority of the participants rated the composite dishes containing PVA-biofortified phutu as “4 = good” and the acceptability of the composite dishes varied significantly (p < 0.05). Compared to other age groups, the 50–59-year age group showed higher preference for white phutu and chicken curry, whereas the 30–39-year age group showed higher preference for PVA-biofortified phutu and chicken curry. The acceptability of OFSP and CFSP was similar. The study participants showed positive perceptions of the OFSP, as well as PVA-biofortified phutu if served with either curried chicken or cabbage. The findings suggest that PVA-biofortified maize and OFSP can replace white maize and CFSP, respectively, in selected traditional dishes of the rural communities studied to alleviate VAD.
Highlights
Worldwide, vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is a serious health problem affecting children and pregnant women [1], and is prevalent among countries in developing regions, especially sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) [2,3,4]
This study aimed to investigate the effect of replacing white maize and cream-fleshed sweet potato (CFSP) with Provitamin A (PVA)-biofortified maize and orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP), respectively, on consumer acceptability and perceptions of traditional dishes of selected rural communities in KZN, South Africa
This study indicates that the undesirable properties of PVA-biofortified foods that were found in other studies can be masked by serving it with another commonly consumed food item, improving the acceptance
Summary
Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is a serious health problem affecting children and pregnant women [1], and is prevalent among countries (including South Africa) in developing regions, especially sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) [2,3,4]. In South Africa, national studies showed that between 1994 and 2005, the VAD situation among children had worsened. The prevalence increased from 33.3 % in 1994 to 63.6% in 2005 [5,6]. Survey-Fortification baseline (NFCS-FB-1) (2005) study reported that two in three women had VAD and six in ten women living in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) had VAD. KZN had the second highest prevalence of VAD [5,6,7].
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