ABSTRACT

Households in Nigeria and other developing countries, are challenged by non-communicable diseases as a result of the nutritional shift towards diets laden with fats, sugars and salt. Snacking plays a great role in the diets of household; however, the consumption of unhealthy food poses a great risk to household nutritional well-being. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the nutritional quality and consumer acceptability of selected snacks (cookies, queen cake, meat-pie and chin chin) from moringa seed and pearl millet composite. To achieve this, 8 specific objectives were formulated. 7 research questions guided the study and 4 null hypotheses were stated to guide the study. The study adopted Research and Development and experimental research design. Moringa seeds and millet grains were processed into flour using different processing methods. The composite flour was blended to produce composite flour at different ratios 90:10, 80:20, 70:30 and 100:0 (control), which is the conventional wheat flour. The composite flour in their different ratios was used to produce four quality snacks: cookies, queen cakes, meat pie and chin-chin. Proximate composition, mineral composition and functional properties of the flour and snacks product were determined. A nine point hedonic scale for adults and children was used for the sensory evaluation. Results were analyzed statistically by the analysis of variance. Result for proximate composition of the flour samples shows that the moisture content ranged from 9.62% - 13.18%, ash, 0.83% – 1.83%, fat, 1.16% – 12.66%, protein, 2.01% - 5.60%, fiber, 0.77% - 1.83% and carbohydrate 68.98% - 82.05%. The moisture content and carbohydrate content of the control flour sample was higher than the formulated composite flour while the composite flour had the highest Ash, fiber, protein and fat content. Results for mineral composition of the flour samples revealed that the control had highest sodium, potassium and iron content, 38.40% - 46.40%, 165.85% - 181.29%, and 5.31% - 6.53% respectively while the composite flour had highest magnesium, calcium and zinc, 47.61% - 56.44%, 82.77% - 92.62% and 2.69% - 3.59% respectively. Results for the functional properties, bulk density, water absorption capacity, oil absorption capacity, foam capacity, foam stability, gelation capacity and swelling index ranged from 0.72g/ml – 0.74g/ml, 0.93g/ml – 1.20g/ml,1.10g/ml – 1.31g/ml,5.64 -39.59g/ml, 63.6g/ml – 96.29g/ml, 2.00g/ml -3.00g/ml and 0.68g/ml – 0.96g/ml respectively. The gelation capacity of sample PMA, PMC, and WTD were not significantly different (P > 0.05). Results for proximate composition of the snack products range from 5.95% - 10.32%, 4.60% -5.66%, 1.31% - 2.01%, and 17.21% - 21.81%, 1.22% -3.34% and 59.74% - 64.51% respectively for cookies. The results shows that the protein content in the cookies, queen cake and meat pie increased with addition of moringa seed flour with the exception of chin chin (COA 4.60 % -5.66% COD, QCA,6,50% - 7.58% QCD, MPA, 5.59% - 9.63% MPD and CHD, 1.55% - 6.85% CHD) respectively. The mineral composition shows variations amongst the snack products. Addition of moringa seed flour increased the mineral content of the snack products.  The sensory evaluation results, shows that the control was most preferred for all the attributes evaluated. The children panelist preferred the snacks more than the adult panelist. This study has proved that snacks can be produced from composite flour of moringa and pearl millet. Based on the findings it was recommended that enrichment with other protein sources will enhance the nutritional composition of the composite snack products. Suggestions for further studies were made.