Production of protein-enriched baby food from Sudanese starchy raw materials.

Commonly used Sudanese sorghum varieties for processing namely feterita, daber, faki-mustahi and safra together with two varieties of sweetpotato, potato and white-bean were investigated for their chemical composition.Out of this analysis, feterita as a basic staple food in Sudan and white-bean as a protein supplement were selected based on their crude protein andenergy contents as basic raw materials for production of sorghum-based babyfoods. Furthermore, dehulling of feterita sorghum grains and white-bean seeds was found to improve their protein and caloric values. Also, the amino acid analysis confirmed the great beneficial effect of white-bean supplementation on feterita nutritional value. Addition of white-beanto feterita flour at a ratio of 30:70 % overcame the lysine deficiency in feterita sorghum protein and increased the net protein value from 5.7 % in feterita flour to 19.0 % in feterita-white-bean composite flour. Moreover, the ratios of leucine to isoleucine, leucine to lysine and arginine to lysine were favorably changed to prevent the pellagragenic effect of sorghum protein. Comparing the drum drying with the extrusion cooking process as common methods for baby food processing, the drum drying method was the more suitable and practical technique for processing of feterita-bean composite flour into a pre-cooked instant flour with acceptable functional properties and high nutritional characteristics.