Evaluation of sorghum varieties for the production of snack bars

First Bio-Innovate regional scientific conference, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 25-27 February 2013

YB Byaruhanga, P Ndahilo, A Kisambira, B Sentongo

Introduction Introduction

Sorghum is a major food crop in Africa Due to its robust and hardy nature,

sorghum will remain one of Africa’s major food crops

In Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda per capita consumption of sorghum is up to 25 kg/capita/year

IntroductionIntroduction

However, one of the major challenges with sorghum Utilization which is limited to

Soft/stiff porridges – with or without malting &/or fermentation

Beers opaque indigenous and now clear lagers Animal feed

Thus there is limited processing to Add value (convenience, nutrition and shelf life) Increase variety of sorghum products

We obtain less economic value from sorghum

ObjectiveObjective

This study sought to present sorghum in a different form that embodies convenience and nutrition - sorghum snack bar

Specifically Develop a method for production of the

sorghum snack bar easily adaptable to MSMEs Assess the suitability of different sorghum

varieties for snack bar production Determine the nutritional sensory properties

of the snack bar

Methodology Methodology

Materials Four common sorghum varieties namely

Epurpur, Seso 1, Seso 2 & Eyera were evaluated

Grains were obtained from NARO –Serere and cleaned to remove Foreign matter, chuff, moulded shrivelled

and broken grain

MethodologyMethodology

Bar formulation The formulation aimed at modifying the

Nutritional (protein and energy) composition

Sensory properties (taste and flavour) Physical properties of the snack bar

Thus additional ingredients used were Roasted sesame and ground nuts Sucrose/common sugar

Table 1: Formulation for sorghum Table 1: Formulation for sorghum snack barsnack bar

Target was to obtain a 40g bar providing at least: 25% of daily recommended protein intake

for 4-8 yr child 15% of daily recommended energy intake

for 4-8 yr child

Methodology Methodology

Snack bar making process

The conventional method of making snack bars from cereal grains was used Pre-treatment

Steaming Steaming with rolling Steaming with rolling &

toasting Popping with

conditioning

Methodology Methodology

Bar formation Mixing ingredients Moulding and pressing Packaging

Findings Findings

How not to make a How not to make a sorghum barsorghum bar Steaming alone, steaming with rolling, and

steaming with rolling and toasting produced Hard and brittle grains – not appealing to

consumer Hard and brittle grain needed moistening to

make the bar pliable – but this compromised product safety and shelf stability

The hardness & brittleness were attributed to Sorghum grain size and structure Starch and protein type and structural

conformation

How to make a sorghum How to make a sorghum barbar

Moisture

content (%)

% popping grains for different varieties

Epurpur Seseo 1 Seso 3 Eyera

12 control 13 (1.9) 13 (3.8) 34 (2.4) 9 (1.4)

14-16 85 (2.5) 73 (2.5) 67 (9.8) 13 (2.3)

Table 2: Popping of four sorghum varieties conditioned to different moisture content

How to make a sorghum How to make a sorghum barbar

From Table 2: Sorghum varieties popped to different

extents with Epurpur popping most and Eyera popping least

Conditioning the grain to different moisture content affected popping rates

Also, popping of sorghum grain produced a snack bar that was appealing to consumers – appearance, texture, & flavour

Nutritional composition of Nutritional composition of sorghum snack barsorghum snack bar

Parameter Seso 1 Seso 3 Epurpur Energy kcal/g 4.96 5.53 5.28Carbohydrates (%)

51.8 52.9 52.6

Protein (%) 14.3 14.8 12.6Fiber (%) 10.9( 9.8 8.2K mg/100g 655.0 530.0 690.0Na mg/100g 85.0 80.0 95.0Ca mg/100g 335.0 335.0 395.0Fe mg/100g 7.4 5.5 12.9 Zn mg/100g 2.3 1.3 1.68

Table 3: Nutritional composition of sorghum snack bars on dry basis

•This formulation attained 27% and 15% of the daily recommended protein and energy intake, respectively

Sensory acceptability of Sensory acceptability of snack bar from 3 sorghum snack bar from 3 sorghum varietiesvarieties

The snack bars from all the three sorghum varieties were acceptable (scoring 7 on a scale of 9)

Snack bars from Seso 1 were the most liked followed by Epurpur and Seso 3

Conclusion Conclusion With modification, sorghum varieties can

be used to produce an acceptable snack bar

With respect to suitability, varieties were ranked as Seso 1, Epurpur and Seso 3 in descending order

Simple technology adaptable to micro, small, medium and large enterprise

Product market potentialProduct market potential

The sorghum snack bar can be positioned as a healthy snack bar

With a few modifications, the snack bar can be positioned as a vehicle to deliver nutrients to consumer groups with different nutritional needs such as diabetics, school children, relief food and

army rations

The enterprise sideThe enterprise side

Production costs In development a 40g bar cost about US$ 0.2 This can be brought down to less than US$

0.1 in a commercial operation producing 50-100kg of product/day

At a micro-enterprise level one can start with about US$ 1000

Are you a potential investor? If yes lets talk!

AcknowledgementAcknowledgement

Consortium partners Research team Bio-Innovate SIDA