Energy Rich Composite Millet and Soybean based Malted Weaning Mix: A Complementary Food in Tribal Areas of Adilabad District, India

Prevalence of malnutrition among infants, young children and nursing mothers is common in tribal areas of Adilabad district of India, although district endowed with higher production of Soybean, Sorghum, wheat and millets that could be harnessed through processing to produce energy dense nutritious foods. Germination and milling of germinated grains into malt is a simple process that is widely used for making complementary nutritious weaning foods from locally grown cereals and pulses. The nutrient contents of energy rich complementary weaning foods (17.1±0.1%, 18.7±0.3 and 18.5±0.6 protein, and 367, 373 and 371, kcal/100 g for Sample-A, Sample-B and Sample-C, respectively fall in the category of protein-rich supplementary foods for children and mothers. The mean scores of sensory evaluation showed that all the energy rich complementary weaning food samples prepared from locally grown foods were within the acceptable range, while the energy rich complementary weaning food sample-B (Sorghum: Wheat: Ragi: Soybean: Green Gram in the ratio of 35:20:10:20:15) significantly had nutritionally superior quality with the acceptable sensory attributes. Further study also shows that the tribal families can prepare energy rich weaning mixes from their agriculture produce by simple malting and milling process.