# Carrot Powder and Jaggery Supplemented Germinated Oat, Teff Based Complementary Infant Food: Formulation, Optimization, and Characterizations

## TL;DR

Researchers developed a nutritious complementary infant food using germinated oats, teff, carrot powder, and jaggery, which has better nutrition and lower antinutrients than commercial options.

## Contribution

The study introduces a novel formulation of infant food with optimized nutritional composition and reduced antinutrients.

## Key findings

- The optimized formulation includes 59.5 g of oat-teff (1:1), 30.5 g of carrot powder, and 10 g of jaggery.
- The food has a maximum desirability of 0.9736 and meets or exceeds WHO nutritional standards.
- Sensory attributes like taste, flavor, and color received high acceptability scores.

## Abstract

The complementary food value has increased over the last decades and is expected to continue rising. The study focused on developing and evaluating a nutritious composite complementary Infant food alternative with lower antinutrients than the commercial one. The current study was undertaken by formulating (using Minitab software, v.19.1, USA) germinated Oats and Teff supplemented with Carrot powder and Jaggery. The proximate composition of formulated complementary Infant food was analyzed, and the reported values ranged from 7.13 ± 0.03 to 13.31 ± 0.01 g (moisture), 2.76 ± 0.03 to 3.35 ± 0.02 g (ash), 7.83 ± 0.02 to 15.97 ± 0.03 g (protein), 2.68 ± 0.02 to 4.27 ± 0.02 g (fat), 2.67 ± 0.02 to 12.11 ± 0.02 g (fiber), 54.87 ± 0.02 to 69.34 ± 0.03 g (carbohydrates), and energy: 301.62 ± 0.02 to 360.47 ± 0.03 kcal/100 g. The studied results reported a better food composition: 59.5 g of Oat‐Teff (1:1 mixture), 30.5 g of Carrot powder, and 10 g of Jaggery supported with a maximum desirability of 0.9736. The sensory attributes (using a seven‐point hedonic scale) of formulated best‐optimized complementary food compositions were 6.24 ± 0.49 (taste), 6.39 ± 0.13 (flavor), 6.51 ± 0.04 (color), 5.84 ± 0.14 (texture), 6.47 ± 1.24 (appearance), 5.87 ± 0.73 (mouthfeel), and 6.55 ± 0.58 (overall acceptability). Thus, the studied results conclude that the formulated optimized composite food is promising, unique, and value‐added to the coarse cereals (Oat and Teff), Carrot, and Jaggery under the complementary composite food category of Infant food.

The current study was undertaken by formulating (using Design‐Expert software, v. 13.1, USA) germinated Oats and Teff supplemented with Carrot powder and Jaggery. The studied results reported a better food composition: 59.5 g of oat‐teff (1:1) mixture, 30.5 g of carrot powder, and 10 g of jaggery supported with a maximum desirability of 0.9736. The better‐optimized complementary food had a good nutritional profile and lower antinutrients compared to the World Health Organization's standard recommended daily intake level.