Development of an alternative low-cost cereal-based weaning food fortified with iron and vitamin A (retinol acetate)

Abstract

The main objective of the study was to develop an alternative low-cost pearl millet-based weaning food followed by the fortification with iron and vitamin A (retinol acetate). The product was formulated as per the guidelines of Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2010 and prepared by using extruded pearl millet flour, extruded wheat flour, skim milk powder, whey protein concentrate-70 and sucrose in the ratio of 35, 25, 15, 5 and 20%, respectively. Electrolytic iron and vitamin A acetate were fortified at the level of 12mg/100g and 360 µg/100g of the product to meet 100 and 98.25% of the RDA for iron and vitamin A, respectively. The developed weaning food was analyzed for proximate composition and physicochemical properties. The average moisture content was 3.73±0.02% and average protein, fat, carbohydrate, ash and crude fiber content (on dry weight basis) was 15.32±0.06, 1.96±0.07, 79.58±0.06, 2.02±0.02 and 1.12±0.10%, respectively. The iron, vitamin A and ß-Carotene content were found to be 15mg, 393µg and 30.62µg per 100g of the product, respectively. Physical properties namely flow-ability, water absorption index, water solubility index were analyzed and values were observed to be 33.80±0.27, 9.28±0.17, 9.12±0.35%, respectively. The lightness (L*), redness (a*), yellowness (b*) values of color for the developed product were 77.87±0.26, 2.15±0.12 and 17.43±0.08, respectively. Overall, it can be concluded that the well- developed product could serve as a potential delivery system of iron and vitamin A and could be an effective tool to deal with the micronutrients deficiency in infants.