Abstract:
Preservation of agricultural produce is one of the
central problems facing developing countries, where foods
consumed are basically staple food crops and cereals. Owing to the
lack or inadequacy of preservation methods, large quantities of
urgently needed food spoil there. These problems will be
aggravated by the growing dietary needs of these burgeoning
populations. Six food products were formulated (cookies, precooked
flour,
fermented
four,
noodles,
crackers
&
sim-balls)
based
on
indigenous
grains,
nuts,
seeds,
roots
and
vegetables
as
follows:
finger
millet
(Eleusine
coracana),
groundnuts
(Arachis
hypogaea),
simsim
(Sesamum
orientale L.), cassava (Manihot esculenta) and
slenderleaf (Crotalaria ochroleuca and Crotalaria brevidens). Raw
materials were dried, spatially roasted, grinded and fermented
ready for product formulation. The formulations were analyzed
for zinc content monthly for three months. Zinc analysis was done
according to the standard procedure described in AOAC (2000).
There were high zinc levels in the formulated indigenous food
products which could be attributed to increased diversity of the
crops used to formulate the products as not a single crop was used
but a combination of at least two crops. As storage time increased,
the content also increased, it is therefore evident that storage
period increased zinc content of the products.
