Development, Optimization and Evaluation of Enriched Custard Powder from Selected Local Food Ingredients

Abstract

Custard powder is a breakfast cereals meal, primarily, made from corn starch; processed with added flavour and fortified with vitamins and minerals. The aim of this study is to formulate, characterize, and optimize enriched custard powder from bio-fortified cassava, pearl millet, soybeans, Africa locust beans fruit pulp, ginger, egg powder, and milk powder; using a seven-component constrained, D-optimal mixture experimental design, with thirty-eight randomized experimental runs. The formulation design constraints were: bio-fortified cassava (10% - 70%), pearl millet (10% - 70%), soybeans (10% - 60%), Africa locust beans fruit pulp (5% - 30%), ginger (1% - 2%), egg powder (0.5% - 1.5%), and milk powder (0.5% - 1%). The formulated samples were analyzed and evaluated for proximate properties, functional properties, vitamin contents, mineral contents, anti-nutritional contents, and sensory properties; using standard procedures. The result of the numerical optimization gave optimized enriched custard with an overall desirability index of 0.833, based on the set optimization goals and individual quality desirability indices. The optimal formulated enriched custard was obtained from 51.3% bio-fortified cassava, 30.469% pearl millet, 10.0 % soybeans, 5.0% Africa locust beans fruit pulp, 2.0% ginger, 0.5% egg powder, and 0.731 % milk powder. The quality properties of this optimal enriched custard are 6.202 % moisture content, 1.139 % crude fibre, 2.548 % ash content, 20.0 % protein content, 6.668 % lipid, 61.786 % carbohydrate, 0.157 (mL/g) water absorption capacity, 0.121 (mL/g) oil absorption capacity, 19.005 (% vol) foaming capacity, 8.886 (%) foaming stability, 52.474 (deg C) gelation temperature, 5.178 (%) least gelation concentration, 0.758 (g/cubic metre) bulk density, 88.383 (mg/100g) vitamin C, 1.832 (mg/100g) beta carotene, 0.6 (%) tannin, 3.072 (mg/100g) cyanide, 19.032 (%) phytate, 5.313 (mg/100g) oxalate, 16.737 (mg/100g) sodium, 469.150 (mg/100g) potassium, 201.332 (mg/100g) calcium, 167.254 (mg/100g) magnesium, 585.770 (mg/100g) phosphorus, 4.694 (mg/100g) iron, and 6.10 overall acceptability, The result of the study showed that the formulated enriched custard was found to be of higher quality than the traditional custard which are produced from mono-cereals. Improving the nutritional quality of food and tackling nutrient deficiencies, particularly protein energy malnutrition in populations, is possible through the application of numerical optimization technique in the development of new food products.