Modern Scientific Press

ABSTRACT: Malnutrition is one of the major causes of illness among infants in Nigeria and this result from poor weaning practice as a result of high cost of commercial weaning foods available. The nutritional composition, mineral composition and growth response of blended infants and weaning foods made from the combinations of crayfish, maize and millet grains were investigated. The blended diet was made by blending powdered maize and millet grains which sorted for stones, pebbles and other physical defects with crayfish that had been sorted to remove stones and other unwanted particles such as hard bones and fish fingerlings and were dry-milled. Fifty (50) weaning laboratory rats were purchased from the animal colony of the Department of Physiology, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria for the purpose of this study. Their weights and ages were noted. The rats were acclimatized and fed with normal diets for seven days before distribution into five groups of ten rats in each cage. On the last day of the experiment, the weight of the rats were recorded, the rats were dissected and the quality of protein in the blended diets was evaluated by estimating the Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) and Food Efficiency Ratio (FER). The compositions of mineral available in the blended diets were quantified using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). The composition of nutrients in blended infant diets were estimated using standard method. The results of ash, crude fibre, moisture, fat, protein, carbohydrates, vitamin B, Vitamin C and energy kcal/100g ranged from 2.42-2.12; 0.80 - 0.40; 6.88-3.68; 7.4-4.0; 16.00-10.40; 75.00-69.00; 15.70 – 10.00; 1.53 – 1.03 and 415-410kcal/100g respectively. The concentration of sodium, magnesium, potassium, calcium, iron and phosphorus ranged from 32.02 -52.11; 500.09 – 707.78; 397.01 – 657.80; 250.04 – 506.04, 6.80 – 16.12 and 230.45 – 515.00 respectively. The FER and PER obtained from the blended diet ranges from 0.08 – 0.12 and 1.04 – 2.32 respectively. This study indicated that locally made weaning and infants food from grains and crayfish food can meet the nutritional needs of infants. The blended diet shows more superiority in terms of nutritional composition, mineral content and Protein Efficiency Ratio when compared with the commercially available weaning food. This can then play a vital role in producing weaning and infant’s foods that can provide the nutritional needs needed for quality growth and eradicate malnutrition.

ABSTRACT: The effect of packing material on the physicochemical and microbiological quality of tiger nut milk in refrigeration storage was investigated. Milk extracted from fresh and dry tiger nut was pasteurized, packaged in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and glass bottles and stored in the refrigerator at 4.4±2ºC for 3, 5, 8, 10, 12 and 15 days. pH in glass bottle was 5.59 - 3.89 and 6.91 – 4.06 for fresh and dry tiger nut milk and 5.35 – 3.98 and 7.05 – 4.07 in PET bottles. Decrease in sugar content in glass bottle (2.85 and 2.53%) for dry and fresh tiger nut milk was significantly (P≤0.05) greater than PET bottle (1.87 and 0.79%). Mould and Salmonella were not found in the samples. Escherichia coli was below detection limit in the dry tiger nut milk but was within marginally acceptable levels (1.54 - 2.62 and 2.02 - 2.71 Log10CFU/ml respectively in glass and PET bottles) in the fresh tiger nut milk on the first 5 days. Total coliform count (Log10CFU/ml) in the PET bottle (≤4.30) was significantly (P≤0.05) greater than glass bottle ≤3.13. Total aerobic mesophiles (Log10CFU/ml) in PET bottles varied from 3.30 – 4.89 and 1.79 – 5.02 respectively, for the fresh and dry tiger nut milk while in glass bottles the values were 3.11 – 5.09 and 3.01 – 4.94. Tiger nut milk in glass bottles had significant (P≤0.05) reduction in pH and lower microbial count than PET bottles and microbiological quality deteriorated significantly (P≤0.05) on day 8. Glass bottle will be a better storage material for tiger nut milk with a recommended shelf-life of 3-5 days under refrigeration temperature of 4.4±2ºC.

ABSTRACT: Vitamin C or ascorbic acid is a water soluble vitamin that is regarded as one of the safest and most effective nutrient. It can be found in most fruits and vegetables. In this study, titrimetric determination of Vitamin C content was done in fresh and packaged fruit juices of pineapple, orange, apple, and tomato purchased randomly from local market in Aliero town, Kebbi State of Nigeria. Two methods were used for the preparation of iodine solutions which were standardized using standard ascorbic acid and then used to analyze the samples. The iodine solutions involved iodine and so gave partial similar results with some differences possibly because the triiode can be oxidized by air if not used immediately and the ascorbic acid in the samples is easily reduced or destroyed by exposure to heat and oxygen during processing, packaging and storage of food. The methods of determination were cheap, accurate and can also be used for routine analysis. The results obtained indicated that the concentration of vitamin C in each fruit was found to be; fresh orange (16.68±0.35), packaged pineapple (7.60±0.78), packaged tomato (6.92±0.50), fresh pineapple (6.18±0.12), fresh tomato (5.53±0.10), packaged orange (4.58±0.28), fresh apple (4.40±0.28), and packaged apple (3.26±0.14) in mg/100mL by method one. Method two gave partially similar results; fresh orange (13.02±0.07), packaged tomato (6.46±0.14), fresh pineapple (6.19±0.35), fresh apple (5.72±0.14), fresh tomato (5.54±0.00), packaged pineapple (4.52 ±0.21), packaged orange (3.87±0.14), and packaged apple (2.50±0.06) in mg/100mL. Thus, orange has the highest content of vitamin C in the fresh samples by both methods, while among the packaged fruit juices, pineapple was highest by method one and tomato by method two respectively. Hence, citrus fruits are rich in vitamin c which is important for healthy or good nutrition.

ABSTRACT: Six samples were generated by mixing a composite flour (Rice, African yam beans and coconut) in the ratios of (80:15:5, 75:20:5, 70:25:5, 65:30:5, 60:35:5, 50:45:5), with sugar, salt and water. Breakfast cereals were produced by dry heat treatment process. This generated ready to eat cereals. The samples were subjected to several analyses to determine their nutritional and sensory qualities. The results obtained showed the following ranges: proximate parameters (%): moisture (3.60+0.06-4.90+0.03), protein (12.28± 0.14 – 19.51± 0.11), fat (4.45±0.07 - 5.27±0.02), ash (1.62±0.01 – 2.92±0.04), fibre (5.80±0.01 – 7.38±0.01), carbohydrate (61.92±0.08 – 70.3±0.20). Mineral composition (mg/100g): iron content (68.30±0.34 - 130.47±0.40), calcium content (110.22±0.65 - 195.65±1.24), potassium content (153.80±2.10 - 210.20±1.00), magnesium content (28.20±0.04 - 45.60±0.40), phosphorus content (6.20±0.34 - 11.30±0.10). Vitamin composition (mg/100g): vitamin A content (11.30±0.01 - 21.15±0.35), vitamin C content (22.15±0.28 - 35.11±0.35). Mean sensory results revealed that the samples A, E and F competed with the control (Golden morn) in terms of overall acceptability. All the samples were generally acceptable to the panelists except for Sample C, which was least accepted by the panelists.