EFFECT OF CO-FERMENTATION ON NUTRITIVE QUALITY AND PASTING PROPERTIES OF MAIZE/COWPEA/SWEET POTATO AS COMPLEMENTARY FOOD

Traditional complementary foods based on cereals have inadequate nutrients required by infants. This study developed a co- fermentation process of maize (50%), cowpea, (30%) and sweet potato (20%w/w) to produce a complementary food for infants. The control was fermented whole grain maize. Gruel of fermented cereal is called ‘ogi ’ in Yoruba native language of south-west Nigeria. Analyses of proximate composition, minerals, amino acids and ß-carotene contents were done using standard methods. Pasting properties were determined using Rotatory Viscometer. Crude protein content was higher in maize/cowpea/sweet potato (p> 0.05) than fermented maize but both values were lower than Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for complementary infant food. Most of the amino acids (AA) analyzed were higher in co-fermented mixture. Total AA were higher in co-fermented mixture than maize but lower the standard: egg reference protein of 556mg/g crude protein (cp). Fermented maize had higher calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium contents than co-fermented mixture: This might be due to the utilization of these minerals by the various microbe