Browsing by Subject "Pear millet grain"

Studies have consistently shown that regular consumption of wholegrain or cereal dietary fibre can prevent and reduce risk of chronic diseases. Despite the extensive worldwide efforts to encourage wholegrain consumption, most cereals in Africa are still mainly consumed in their refined form. Ogi-porridge, which is a traditional fermented cereal based food, for example, serves as a vital source of energy for infants and adults in west Africa, but its nutritional quality is low, particularly in dietary fibre and protein contents. Unfortunately, poor nutrition quality and in some cases microbiologically unsafe fermented foods in Africa not only lead to gastrointestinal disorders, but also contributes to the development of chronic diseases, with long term consumption. Therefore, improving the safety and nutritional quality of cereal-based fermented foods and increasing their dietary fibre content would be an essential step towards reducing the occurrence of these diseases in Africa. This study aimed at evaluating the use of starter cultures, pearl millet wholegrain flour and egusi to improve safety and nutritional quality of pearl millet ogi-porridge. The traditional ogi was prepared in a process that involved soaking, wet-milling, wet-sieving and spontaneous fermentation. Modified ogi was prepared by inoculating pearl millet wholegrain flour (0.5 mm) with Lactobacillus plantarum (previously isolated from pearl millet) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Changes in cell density of microbial groups and acidity was followed during production of ogi. Ogi-porridge was prepared from each type of ogi, by adding boiling water to ogi, with minimal stirring. Proximate composition and bioavailability of starch and protein were analyzed for the ogi-porridges. Finally, sensory quality of the traditional and modified ogi-porridges and their egusi milk supplemented forms, were compared by west Africans living in Finland who were familiar with ogi-porridge. At the end of ogi production, only a slight reduction in Enterobacteriaceae cell density was observed in the traditional ogi, while, 2 log cycle reduction in Enterobacteriaceae was obtained for modified ogi. Modified ogi contained 60% higher total titratable acidity than traditional ogi. In the case of nutritional quality, modified ogi-porridge had 10.09% higher protein content than the traditional ogi-porridge. Starch and protein digestibility were also higher for modified ogi-porridge. Sensory evaluation indicated that an organoleptically acceptable ogi-porridge can be prepared from pearl millet wholegrain flour and starter cultures. Supplementation of traditional and modified ogi-porridges with up to 25% egusi milk (8.81% protein content) was acceptable. As percentage of egusi milk increased from 0-25%, protein content of supplemented ogi-porridges increased. In conclusion, a microbiologically safer, nutritionally superior, and an acceptable ogi-porridge was obtained using the modified method of ogi-porridge production employed in this study.