Abstract

The objective of this study is to present the formulation of complementary infant-gruel flour by applying the multi-response optimization with responses centered on physico-chemical properties, energy value and rheological parameters. A Scheffé simplex network-derived mixture design was adopted to determine the optimal proportions of malted sorghum, malted sesame and dried banana flours, which were the factors considered in the design. The different flour mixtures obtained from the design were cooked in water, using flour to water ratio of 3:7 (w/v) to obtain gruels, and the responses were analysed based on specifications for complementary foods for babies around 6 months old. The results revealed a zone of compromise whose optimal points corresponded to minimum-maximum specifications of 39 to 44% for malted sorghum, 26 to 36% for malted sesame and 20 to 35% for dried banana. The standard protocol for gruel flour production obtained can be used for local production of gruel flours.

Key words: Infant flour specifications, banana, sesame, sorghum, malting, mixture design.