Studies on the Development and Evaluation of Cereal Based Highly Nutritive Supplementary Food for Young Children

Early weaning practices are one of the most important causes of malnutrition of children which ultimately increase the chance of infant morbidity and mortality. The present study was carried out to develop cereal based supplementary food from indigenous raw materials for young children and to evaluate nutritional quality. The formulated baby food was produced from soy flour and wheat flour and was analyzed for their chemical, functional, microbiological and sensory qualities using standard methods. Moisture, Ash, Protein, Fat and Crude Fiber content was found 2.78%, 1.88%, 11.91%, 8.61% and 0.58% respectively, which was able to meet the young children's recommended daily allowances. The values of functional properties such as water absorption capacity 156.35%, bulk density 0.50%, solubility 47.913%, swelling power 12.16% and viscosity 34.4% were found. The microbial analysis was done to see the acceptability of the product and the result was good from the microbiological point of view. The main metal content of the formulated baby food such as sodium, potassium, iron, magnesium, zinc and calcium were 224.4, 280, 8.0, 5.1 and 453.4 (mg/100g) respectively and Vitamin A was found 200