Co-fermentation improves the functional properties and nutritional quality of infant complementary food products

Food-to-food fortification and fermentation are effective strategies to enhance product functionality and nutrient density of infant complementary foods. However, their effectiveness hinges on a deep understanding of ingredient combinations. Our research focused on the physicochemical and techno-functional aspects of sorghum-baobab blends, comparing two processes: 'co-ferment-cook' and 'ferment-cook-fortify'. The results show that both techniques improve water absorption capacity by 17-20% and water solubility index increase by over 100% while maintaining comparable nutritional composition and energy density. The calculated energy density (2048.8 -2345 kJ/day) was sufficient for both blends for children 6-11 months, fed on an average Breast Milk Intake. Viscosity, another crucial factor for complementary feeding, improved significantly after co-ferment-cook compared to ferment-cook-fortify reaching a value suitable for children older than 18 months. Starch digestibility increased with co-ferment-cook, while protein digestion increased with fortified non-fermented. In conclusion, our findings emphasize that combining fermentation and fortification processing steps is optimal for balancing the nutritional and techno-functional properties of sorghum porridges for infant complementary foods. Processing parameters must be optimized to reach the viscosity suitable for complementary feeding at the assigned soluble solid contents for age groups 6-24 months.