1 © 2019 Asian Medical Journals. All Rights Reserved. DEVELOPMENT AND QUALITY EVALUATION OF COMPLEMENTARY FOOD FORMULATED FROM SORGHUM, SOYBEAN AND SESAME FLOUR BLENDS Emmanuel, Omale B.B. 1 1 Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Federal University Wukari, Nigeria ABSTRACT Article History Received: 15 November 2018 Revised: 24 December 2018 Accepted: 30 January 2019 Published: 3 April 2019 Keywords Quality Complementary foods Sorghum Soybean Sesame Blends. Complementary foods are foods that are not breast milk or infant formula introduced to an infant to provide nutrients due to inadequacy of breast milk. The quality of Complementary foods prepared from sorghum, soybean and sesame flour blends was determined in this research. The flours were prepared and blended at different ratios; 70:30:0, 70:20:10, 60:30:10, and 50:40:10. The chemical, sensory and physical properties of the individual flours and the most acceptable complementary food were determined. The results show that the complementary food (50% SORF, 40% SOYF AND 10% SESF) contained 24.1% protein while SORF, SOYF and SESF had 7.8%, 48.4% and 15.1% respectively. The complementary food has higher carbohydrate 48.1% than those of the SOYF (19.4%) and SESF (23.3%). However, the SOYF flour had higher carbohydrate (82.2%) than the other flours. The bulk density of the complementary food was 0.72g/cm 3 while those of the flours ranged from 0.53 g/cm 3 to 0.81g/cm 3 . All the flours lacked foaming capacity, values ranging from 0.98 to 6.9%. However, the complementary food had higher water absorption capacity and emulsion capacity than the individual flours. The sensory evaluation result showed that the blend containing 50% SORF, 40% SOYF and 10% SESF received higher scores for taste, flavor, texture, colour and overall acceptability than the other flour blends and the commercial weaning food. The result showed that acceptable complementary food with chemical and physical properties similar to commercial weaning food may well be prepared from sorghum, soybean and sesame flour blends. Contribution/Originality: This study is one of very few studies that have investigated the production of complementary foods from local raw materials. The complementary food was produced from low-cost, nutrient dense cereal; legume and oil seed which will help solve the problem of malnutrition as the blend is rich in protein and other nutrients. 1. INTRODUCTION Complementary foods are foods that are not breast milk or infant formula (liquids, semi solids, and solids) introduced to an infant to provide nutrients. Complementary foods or supplement are not necessarily milk based. They are used primarily when giving breast milk alone to the infant is no longer adequate in quantity to provide the growing needs of the infants. This period is from 6 months onwards. The food given to an infant must be very nutritious. Infant foods should be carefully selected to be small in quantity but high in nutritive value. Childhood malnutrition is very common in developing countries [1]. Nigeria is well endowed with adequate food supplies; however, most children under the age of five are malnourished. The causes of this public health problem in Nigeria are complex, but poor quality and quantity of foods given to children play a major role. The Journal of Nutrients 2019 Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 1-10 ISSN(e): 2410-6542 ISSN(p): 2413-8428 DOI: 10.18488/journal.87.2019.51.1.10 © 2019 Asian Medical Journals. All Rights Reserved.