Sensory and microbiological evaluation of brown rice based weaning food

Weaning foods were formulated using varying amounts of raw materials by considering nutritive and caloric values of each ingredient in order to meet the nutrient requirement of infants. The brown rice, mungbean, apple pulp and walnut flour were blended separately in different ratios with each other along with 3 g of skim milk powder. The blended mixtures of weaning foods were packed in aluminium laminates to monitor the changes in sensory and microbial composition and were stored for a period of 6 months at ambient temperature (32 ± 2 0C). On the basis of organoleptic evaluation of weaning foods, treatment T5 (70:20:5:5:BR:MB:APP:WP) was adjudged as the best treatment having highest mean score of 7.98, 7.71 and 7.68 for colour, taste and overall acceptability, respectively. The highest total plate counts of 0.49×102(c.f.u/g) was recorded in treatment T1(100:0:0:0:BR:MB:APP:WP) followed by 0.42×102 (c.f.u/g) in treatment T2(85:5:5:5:BR:MB:APP:WP) and by 0.36×102 (c.f.u/g) was in treatment T3(80:10:5:5:BR:MB:APP:WP) and the lowest of 0.14×102 (c.f.u/g) was recorded in treatment T7(60:30:5:5:BR:MB:APP:WP) but within the safe limits (not more than 10,000/g) as per legal standards for cereal.