Required nutritional, organoleptic and sanitary ... - Nutridev

Required nutritional, organoleptic and sanitary
characteristics of fermented and unfermented
gruels used as complementary foods in
developing countries
Trèche S, Mouquet C, Guyot JP
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)
UR 106 “Nutrition, Alimentation, Sociétés”
WHO collaborating Centre for Nutrition
“Food safety under extreme conditions”, Int. Conference, Jaén 6-8/09/ 2004

Introduction
‣ Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM), in particular stunting, still affects
about one third of pre-school children in developing countries
‣ Stunting is associated with:
- delays in mental and motor development
- increased risk of morbidity and mortality
‣ In most situations growth failure and malnutrition appear just after the
introduction of complementary foods (CF) and prevalences of stunting
reach a maximum when children are about 15 to 20 months old
‣ Taking into account the simultaneity of the apparition of PEM and of the
introduction of CF and as:
Total energy and
nutrient intakes
Energy and nutrient
intakes from breastmilk
Energy and nutrient
intakes from CF
= +
⇒ There are probably strong relations between PEM and CF

Introduction
These relations can be:
Direct: - insufficient energy or micronutrient absorption due to
inadequate CF intakes or nutritional value
or
Indirect:
- reduction of breast milk intakes when CF are introduced too early
- CF may cause foodborne diseases (diarrhoea or parasitic infections)
- CF may reduce the nutrient bioavailability of the whole diet
Thus, from six months of age, children must have access to CF which:
‣ are free of pathogens and contaminants
‣ have high energy and nutrient density, well balanced nutritional
composition and low antinutritional factor contents
‣ have appropriate organoleptic characteristics, particularly suitable
consistency and taste
‣ and are economically accessible, culturally acceptable and
easy-to-prepare.

Definition of complementary foods (CF)
Any liquid or solid nutrient-containing
foods given to infants and young
children in addition to breastmilk
The first CF given to infants generally:
‣ consist in special transitional foods (as gruel, porridge, pap…)
prepared from blends of flours or fermented cereal doughs
‣ are characterised by a semi-liquid consistency
The present contribution serves a triple purpose:
Introduction
‣ To summarize the required nutritional, organoleptic, sanitary
and socio economical characteristics of CF
‣ To o briefly review the main (bio)technological(
processes which
can be used to confer these required characteristics to CF
‣ To o suggest some practical and inexpensive ways of
control

Required characteristics
The nutritional characteristics have to correspond with
the physiological and anatomical constraints concerning
infant feeding:
High energy and nutrient requirements
Limited gastric capacity (~30-40 ml/kg of body weight)
Reduced ability to swallow solid food
⇒ Necessity to design CF with
- high energy and nutrient density
- semi-liquid consistency
- sufficiently bioavailable essential (micro)nutrients

Required nutritional characteristics
On account of the frequent changes in nutritional
recommandations, it is important to keep in mind the
principle for calculating required energy and nutrient
density of CF:
Energy or nutrient
needed from CF
Desired average
energy or nutrient
density in CF
=
Energy or nutrient
-
requirements
=
Energy or nutrient
/
needed from CF
Energy or nutrient
consumed from
breastmilk
Total amount of
CF consumed

Required nutritional characteristics
Estimation of the minimum energy density for CF (kcal/100g)
Class
of age
Requirement
(kcal/day)
Average
+2SD
Energy
intake from
breastmilk
(kcal/day)
Energy that a
child must be
able to
consume from
CF (kcal/d)
Gastric
capacity
(ml)
Minimum energy
density depending
on the number of
meals per day
2m/d
3m/d
4m/d
6-8
months
615
769
Low
Av.
217
413
552
356
249
111
71
74
48
55
36
9-11
months
686
858
Low
Av.
157
379
701
479
285
123
84
82
56
61
42
12-23
months
894
1118
Low
Av.
90
346
1028
772
345
149
112
99
75
74
56
Source: adapted from WHO/NUT/98.1; Dewey and Brown, 2003

Minimum nutrient contents
Digestible protein
Lipids
Calcium
Iron
Zinc
Iodine
Vitamin A
Thiamin
Riboflavin
Folic acid
2.75
2.33
60
6.25
2.27
51
114
80
80
19
Required nutritional characteristics
contents (per 100 kcal) for 6-to-23-mo-old children
g / 100 kcal
g / 100 kcal
mg / 100 kcal
mg / 100 kcal
mg / 100 kcal
µg / 100 kcal
µg RE / 100 kcal
µg / 100 kcal
µg / 100 kcal
µg / 100 kcal
Source: adapted
from Lutter and
Dewey, 2003
‣ But essential micronutrients must not only to be present but also
bioavailable

Required organoleptic characteristics
The most important organoleptic characteristics of CF are:
consistency, sweetness and acid taste:
‣ Consistency
- apparent viscosity
- outflow
- Average value of outflow of traditional
gruels (mm/30s)
Rotational
viscosimeter
Burkina: 120-140
Cameroon: 149
Congo: 65-75
Guinea: 90-100
Senegal: 45
Vietnam: 20-30
Bostwick
consistometer
- Preferred outflow of a panel of Burkinabè
mothers
Low ED (~ 55kcal/100g) gruels: ~ 110 mm/30s
High ED (~ 98kcal/100g) gruels: 130-150 mm/30s

‣ Sweetness
- Determination of average
sugar content (g/100g
DM) in traditional
low energy dense
gruels
Required organoleptic characteristics
Determination of the optimum rate of
incorporation for sugar
Burkina (fermented millet): 41
Cameroon (fermented maize) : 37
(maize flour): 42
Congo (fermented maize): 36
(cassava flour): 28
Senegal (millet flour): 33
- Determination of the minimum threshold of acceptability for sugar
incorporation (g/100g DM) with a panel of burkinabè mothers:
Low energy dense
High energy dense
Unfermented gruel
(Corn/soybean/groundnut)
30
11
Fermented gruel
( Millet Ben-saalga)
35
14

Required sanitary characteristics
Concerning their sanitary characteristics, STF are covered by the
revised codex STAN 74-1981 provision of the standard of the Codex
Alimentarius (i.e., Codex committee on Nutrition and foods for special
dietary uses (CCFNDSU), which specifies that they
« should be prepared and handled in accordance with the
appropriate sections of the Recommended international Code of practice –
General principle of hygiene (CAC/RCP A 1969, Rev 3, 1997)
and other relevant codex texts ».
They should comply with any microbiological criteria established in
accordance with the Principles for the establishment and application of
microbiological Criteria for foods (CAC/GL 21-1997) which
recommend the use of the HACCP system

Required sanitary characteristics
Complementary foods should contain neither pathogenic bacteria,
toxins, nor residual toxic chemical compounds likely to have negative
effects on the infants’ health and, in particular, to be cause of diarrhoea
Microbiological specifications applicable for processed cereal-based
foods for infants and young children
Mesophilic aerobic bacteria
Fecal coliforms
Yeasts and moulds
Salmonella
To-be-cooked
flour
< 10 5

Required economical and technical characteristics
Some economical and technological characteristic determine
accessibility and acceptability
In order to effectively contribute to child feeding, CF have to:
‣ be available close to households with young children
‣ be cheap because of the low purchase power of most
households
‣ be free of ingredients corresponding to food taboos
‣ be easy to prepare because of heavy workload of mothers
‣ have organoleptic characteristics corresponding to local
food preferences

Present situation of food products usually used
as CF in developing countries
Fermented products
Advantages
- Lactic acid, low pH and possible antimicrobial compounds can inhibit pathogen
growth and toxin production
- Reduction of some antinutritional factors (Phytates, Tannins, alpha-galactosides)
- Modification of nutrient composition
- Improvement of protein digestibility
- Generally well appreciated organoleptic characteristics
Risks and drawbacks
Main usable (bio)technological processes
- High viscosity which does not allow the preparation of gruels with appropriate
energy density
- Generally insufficient essential nutrient density
- Production of D-(-) lactic acid with risk of acidosis
- Possible resistance of some pathogenic organisms, foodborne viruses,
mycotoxins, bacterial toxins…

Main usable (bio)technological processes
Infant flours
- Hygienic quality: Depending on the quality of raw materials and
hygienic practices during processing
- Energy density of gruels: Insufficient unless gruels are prepared
using appropriate processes or sources of
amylases are added
- Nutrient contents: Generally insufficient for lipids, minerals and
vitamins unless supplements are incorporated
- Price: Generally maladjusted to the purchase power of the
majority of households

Energy density of gruels from commercial flours in some DC
when prepared at appropriate viscosity (between 1 and 3 Pa.s)
Benin-Ouando1
Burkina-Den Mugu
Burkina-Kasona
Burkina-Misola
Burundi-Musalac
Tchad-Vitafort Mil
Congo-Harina Fante
Congo-Maiso
Gabon-Nourivit
Guinée-Baraka
Guinée-Yeolac
Niger-Bitamin
Rwanda-Sosoma
Sénégal-Rhuy Xalele
Sierra Leone-Farine ACF
Togo-Viten 1
Togo-Viten 2
Vietnam-National In Nutrition
Vietnam-Risolac
Vietnam-Loai Bot Ngot
Vietnam-Bot Thit
Algérie-Labnamine
Benin-Super Ouando1
Benin-Super Ouando2
Burkina-Vitaline
Zaire-Cerevap
Sénégal-Agetip
Sénégal-Provital
Vietnam-Ridielac H.V.
Vietnam-Ridielac crawfish
Vietnam-Ridielac milk cereal
Vietnam-Ridielac meat cereal
Madagascar-Bledilac
Congo-Cerelac
Thaïlande-Cerelac Rice
Chine-Ceresoy Rice
Tchad-CSB
Afrique-Nutriset
Congo-Phosphatine
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Energy density (kcal/100g)
Optimal energy
density
Small-scale local production
Semi-industrial local production
International industry
Source:
Trèche and
Mbome, 1999

Main usable (bio)technological processes
Ways of improvement of infant flours
For improving nutrient balance: Adequate formulation
Addition
Source of protein:
Source of lipid:
Source of minerals and vitamins:
Cowpea, beans, soybean...
Groundnut, sesame, soybean, oil
Mineral and vitamin complement…
For improving nutrient bioavailability:
Mechanical treatment
Use of Heat Treatment
Biological treatment
For improving energy density of gruels:
Partial
degradation
of starch
Enzymatic hydrolysis:
Thermo-mechanical hydrolysis
- Dehulling
- Roasting, Extrusion-cooking
- Soaking
- Incorporation of malted flour or
industrial enzymes
- Fermentation
- Incorporation of malted flours
- Addition of industrial amylases
- Extrusion cooking
For improving sanitary quality : HACCP system; development or
incorporation of natural antimicrobial
substances

Main usable (bio)technological processes
Ways to reduce viscosity in order to prepare gruels with
sufficient energy and nutrient densities
Viscosity (Pa.s)
8
6
4
2
Incorporation of malted flour
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Incorporation rate (g/100g dry matter)
4
3
2
1
0
Use of extrusion cooking
Raw rice Extruded Rice
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22
10,5 20,8
Concentration (g DM / 100 g of gruel)

Ways of controls of the adequacy of complementary foods
Sanitary aspects
- To carry out HACCP approachs for each kind of traditional
processing in order to identify the key critical points and propose
some appropriate practices.
- Then, control may consist in verifying by simple observation that
these appropriate practices are used
Nutrient composition
To verify that choice and incorporation rate of ingredients allow to get
blends with sufficient essential nutrient and micronutrient contents

Ways of controls of the adequacy of complementary foods
Nutrient composition: using simple softwares aimed to calculate the
nutrient contents of a blend by combining it ingredient composition to the
data of a food composition table and then to compare the calculated value
to the nutritional objective of the blend
Ingredient composition
of the blend
Corn
Rice
Soybean
Groundnut
Sugar
Salt
Ca3(PO4)2
M&V premix
49,55 %
15,00 %
15,60 %
7,50 %
11,00 %
0,69 %
0,45 %
0,21 %
ℵ
Food
composition
table
Lipids (g)
Dig. protein (g)
Lysine (mg)
Calcium (mg)
Iron (mg)
Vit A (µg ER)
Estimated
nutritional value
Objective
/100 kcal
2,33
2,75
126,0
60,0
6,25
114,0
Calculated
value
/100 kcal
2,34
3,04
148,7
61,1
6,49
118,7
Riboflavin (µg)
80,0
82,8

Energy density and consistency
Ways of controls of the adequacy of complementary foods
Possible procedure to verify than a specific flour or fermented paste can
be prepared into a gruel having both a sufficient energy density (ED) and
an appropriate consistency:
1. Prepare a gruel from the flour or paste following accurately the
recommendations for use
2. Determinate both outflow (at 45°C using a bostwick consistometer) and
dry matter content of the gruel
3. Estimate the ED of the gruel taking into account the energy content of
the flour and the dry matter content of the gruel
4. Compare this estimated ED to the recommendations and the measured
outflow to the acceptable range for the concerned population.
- If both values are: - in the acceptable ranges: The gruel is OK.
- out of ranges: processes have to be reconsidered
- If only one value is out of range: “recommendations for use” must be
revisited

Conclusion
Providing infants and young children with appropriate
complementary foods in a specified context needs :
‣First, to understand environmental, cultural, social and economical
constraints
‣Then, to develop appropriate formulation and processes taking into
account previous constraints and nutritional recommendations in an
integrated way
‣Finally, to define and implement practical procedures for sanitary
and nutritional quality control
But in order that CF contribute effectively to the improvement of infant
and young children nutritional status, the most difficult will be to
convince the mothers to change their feeding practices and to use the
appropriate complementary foods proposed.

Thank you for
listening