Safety And Quality Of Commercial Cereal-Based Complementary Foods Produced And Marketed In Mwanza Region

EXTENDED ABSTRACT

Commercial cereal-based complementary foods (CBCF) for infant porridge are increasingly produced and sold in developing countries including Tanzania. A crosssectional study was conducted to determine the safety and quality of commercial cerealbased complementary foods produced and marketed in Mwanza region. Twenty differently formulated cereal-based complementary food products (CBCFs) from 20 processors were purchased from supermarkets and retail shops in Mwanza region. Proximate composition, mineral contents (Ca, Fe and Zn), anti-nutrients (tannins and trypsin inhibitors) and microbiological counts (total coliforms and Salmonella spp) were determined. Assessment of commercial CBCF processors on the food safety knowledge and good hygiene practices was also done using structured questionnaire. Processors had moderate knowledge on food safety and hygienic practices but low capital and poor processing technology used renders them fail to implement their knowledge into practices. The sampled CBCFs were found to be mainly prepared from finger millet, rice, popcorns, peanuts, soy beans, undehulled wheat, white sorghum, sesame seed, pearl millet and cardamon.Proximate composition of the CBCFs wasmoisture: 7.55-11.06%, ash:1.97 - 4.82%,crude protein:6.88 - 15.12%, crude fat:2.67 - 9.68%, crude fibre:2.82 - 8.31%, total carbohydrates: 54.43 - 73.04%, energy: 306.06 - 381.24 kcal/100g.Mineral contents (in mg/100g) in commercial CBCFs were: calcium: 59.56 - 145.45, iron: 1.07 - 5.05, zinc: 1.04 - 3.31. Tannins ranged from 0.19 - 3.12% and the in vitro trypsin inhibitors (TIs) concentrations ranged from 2.76to 9.91mg/g. Total coliform counts in the samples ranged from zero to 2.5×101 cfu/g. Eleven CBCFs (55%) had total coliforms countsbelow 10cfu/g hence conformed to TZS 180:2013 and CODEX standards (2006). Salmonella was not detected in samples making all samples conform to TZS 180:2013 and CODEX Standard (2006) respectively.Majority of CBCFs had low content of protein, fat, energy iron, zinc and calcium. Also, they had iii moisture, dietary fibre, anti-nutrients (Tannins and Trypsin Inhibitors) and coliforms higher than the recommended limits as required by TZS 180:2013and CODEX standards (2006).Therefore, there is a need to improve training on proper formulation (proportions) and CBCF processing so as to improve levels of deficient nutrients. The government authorities should take effective control and monitoringof processors so as to make sure that all CBCFs are properly formulated, processed and comply with national and/or international standards.