SENSORY AND PROXIMATE ASSESSMENT OF FAT CAKES ENRICHED WITH SOYBEAN PROTEIN

Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM) is the most important nutritional problem among children in developing countries. In Malawi PEM prevalence is high due to child feeding with plain cereal-based diets with low energy and protein densities. Fat cakes are a useful supplementary food as they are ready-to-eat, nutrient dense and have high acceptability. In this study, wheat flour was replaced with full fat soy flour at different levels of 10%, 20%, and 30% to produce more nutritionally balanced fat cakes. To establish the nutritional characteristics of Fat cakes, moisture, crude protein, ash, fat, carbohydrate and energy contents were determined. Sensory evaluation was determined using 7 point hedonic scale for acceptability. The results showed that protein content of soy flour fat cakes significantly increased from 5.8% to 12.18% as compared to control. Such fat cakes could provide 50% of the recommended daily protein intake for 3 to 10 year olds. Hence, wheat-soy composite fat cakes have considerable potential as protein-rich supplementary foods to alleviate PEM in children.