Abstract:
Pregnant and lactating women in underdeveloped countries like Ethiopia are highly
vulnerable for malnutrition in macronutrients, micronutrients or both. To alleviate this
problem, Composite flour is commonly used method to make use of local raw material to
produce high quality food products in an economical way. Thus, this study was designed in
order to investigate the nutritional and sensory quality of porridge developed from different
proportions of orange fleshed sweet potato (60-85%), enriched with soybean (10-30%) and
moringa leaves (5-10%). The proportions of ingridients were selected using 16-run, threelevel D-Optimal constrained mixture design. Porridge or Gruel obtained from mixture of the
three ingredients was evaluated for proximate composition, total carotenoid, minerals,
functional properties and sensory attributes. The results showed significant differences
(p<0.05) among the products of different blending ratio of ingredients in protein, total ash,
fiber, iron, calcium, water absorbing capacity, tannin and sensory attributes. On the other
hand there were no significant differences among the products in terms of total carotenoid,
crude fat, carbohydrate, bulk density, viscosity, water activity and phytate contents. Gruel
prepared from higher proportion of OFSP, soybean and lower levels of moringa showed
better sensory acceptability though high proportion of moringa improved nutritional quality of
the products. The result revealed that OFSP, soybean and moringa have good potential for
making vitamin A-protein-iron enriched thin porridge (gruel). Graphical optimization showed
that the product containing 67-75% OFSP, 17-23% soybean, and 5-8% moringa is the best
formulation to yield nutrient enriched gruel with desirable sensory attributes. This product
has a potential benefit for long term food-based strategy for controlling vitamin A and iron
deficiencies in pregnant and lactating women in developing countries.
