Development of Appropriate Technology for New and Improved Weaning Foods and Aflatoxin Detoxification in Peanuts

Approach

The goal of ALA 26U was to develop extrusion cooking technology for improved weaning foods based on blends of maize, sorghum, peanut, and cowpeas and isolate, purify and characterize active ingredients in Allium sativum that inhibit the growth of Aspergillus flavus, the fungus that produces aflatoxin.

Achievements

Some progress has been made in Ghana on extrusion cooking and quality characteristics of experimental weaning blends. From extrusion cooking trials with peanut, maize, and soybean composites, a high protein semi-instant extruded weaning food was developed. The product was found to have good sensory characteristics when reconstituted with hot water or cooked for a short time. The Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) was 2.4 making the extruded product an ideal weaning food to improve the nutritional status of Ghanaian children and help solve malnutrition problems. The Ghana principal investigator has asked for a reevaluation of the issue with the extruder because of difficulties in attaining reproducible experimental results reemphasizing the inappropriateness of the equipment for research studies. As a result, no meaningful extrusion work is going on presently (2000). Efforts will be made to write a manuscript on the limited data obtained to date. The closing of the food science department at AAMU, which then reorganized and reopened, and resignations leading to four principal investigators during this phase has limited input by the U.S. institution in the project.

Focus

Post-harvest and marketing technologies