Functional and nutritional evaluation of supplementary food formulations.

Two type of ready to eat supplementary food formulations were developed by roller drying based on wheat, soy protein concentrate, whey protein concentrate, and green gram flour and were fortified with vitamins and minerals to meet the one third of the Recommended daily allowance (RDA). The supplementary food formulations contained 20-21% protein, 370-390 kcal of energy and 2,300 μg of β-carotene per 100 g serving. The physico-chemical, functional and nutritional characteristics were evaluated. The chemical score indicated that sulphur containing amino acids were the first limiting in both the formulations. The calculated nutritional indices, essential amino acid index, biological value, nutritional index and C-PER were higher for formula II. Rat bioassay showed higher PER (2.3) for formula II compared to formula I (2.1). The bioaccessibility of iron was 23%. Sensory studies indicated that the products were acceptable with a shelf life of 1 year under normal storage condition. However, the formulations were nutritionally better than only cereal based supplementary food formulations available commercially. The product could be served in the form of porridge with water/milk or in the form of small laddu.