THESE UNIQUE El Hassane Kéhien-Piho TOU - Nutridev

ARTICLE IN PRESS
LWT 40 (2007) 1561–1569
www.elsevier.com/locate/lwt
Improving the nutritional quality of ben-saalga, a traditional fermented
millet-based gruel, by co-fermenting millet with groundnut and
modifying the processing method
E.H. Tou a,b , C. Mouquet-Rivier a,b, , C. Picq c , A.S. Traore`
a , S. Tre` che c , J.P. Guyot c
a UR106 (Nutrition, Alimentation, Sociétés), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), 01 BP 182, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, France
b Université de Ouagadougou /UFR-SVT/ CRSBAN, Burkina Faso, France
c UR106 (Nutrition, Alimentation, Sociétés), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, BP 64501, F-34394 Montpellier cedex 5, France
Received 11 July 2006; received in revised form 2 November 2006; accepted 6 December 2006
Abstract
To improve the nutritional value of ben-saalga, a traditional gruel from Burkina Faso, co-fermentation of millet and groundnut (MG)
was monitored using either the traditional processing method (MG-T) or a modified processing method including precooking, addition
of malt and inoculation by backslopping (MG-CMI). Fermentation kinetics and microbial composition in the two processing methods
were characterized and compared to that of ben-saalga process used as control. The fermented pastes from control, MG-T and MG-CMI
experiments had a low pH of around 3.9. Their microbiota were dominated by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) with amylolytic LAB:LAB
ratios of respectively 12%, 4% and 15%. In MG-T paste, glucose and fructose were the main substrates for lactic acid fermentation and
their concentration decreased during settling, whereas in MG-CMI paste, the main substrate was maltose and its concentration increased
transiently. At a suitable consistency, the dry matter content of MG-CMI gruel was almost twice as high as that of ben-saalga. During the
three processing methods, phytate content decreased of about 75%, 50% and 66%, respectively. Thanks to the incorporation of
groundnut, the macronutrient balance of MG-T and MG-CMI met the requirements for complementary foods but only the MG-CMI
gruel had sufficient energy density.
r 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd. on behalf of Swiss Society of Food Science and Technology.
Keywords: Pearl millet; Groundnut; Complementary food; Nutritional quality; Lactic acid fermentation
1. Introduction
Malnutrition is a public health concern in most
developing countries. In Burkina Faso, according to the
last demographic and health survey conducted in 2003, the
prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting reached
39%, 38% and 19%, respectively (INSD & Macro
International, 2004). Examination of the causes of malnutrition
(ACC/SCN, 2000) revealed that the nutrition
status of young children depends on multiple factors
among which the quality of complementary feeding is
Corresponding author. UR106 (Nutrition, Alimentation, Sociétés),
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, BP 64501, F-34394
Montpellier cedex 5, France.Tel.: +3 3467416295.
E-mail address: claire.mouquet@ird.bf (C. Mouquet-Rivier).
essential. This includes child-care practices and the nutritional
value of complementary foods.
In West Africa, the most widely-consumed complementary
foods are local cereal-based gruels prepared in small
production units or in households (Cornu, Tre` che,
Massamba, & Delpeuch, 1993). The preparation of several
of these foods includes a lactic acid fermentation step
(Tomkins, Alnwick, & Haggerty, 1988; Blandino, Al-
Aseeri, Pandiella, Cantero, & Webb, 2003). Although
fermentation has some nutritionally positive effects such as
a reduction in phytate content, or an increase in the
contents of certain vitamins, the nutritional value of these
gruels is very low (Westby & Gallat, 1991; Lorri &
Svanberg, 1994; Tou et al., 2006). Protein, lipid and energy
contents are generally well below the values recommended
for complementary foods by Dewey and Brown (2003). In
0023-6438/$30.00 r 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd. on behalf of Swiss Society of Food Science and Technology.
doi:10.1016/j.lwt.2006.12.001