ABSTRACT
Adequate nutrition is vital during infancy but the high cost of supplemented infant formulae has forced inhabitants of Central and West Africa to depend solely on low-nutrient gruels. Response Surface modelling was used to process a complementary food from roasted pearl millet and Soybean flour. A central composite design was adopted to study the effects of feed composition X1 (5.86-34.14%) and roasting temperature X2 (126-154 °C) on the micronutrients, functional, and sensory profiles of the different blends. The responses were significantly (p < 0.05) affected by the independent factors. For the vitamins in mg/100 g, the thiamin, riboflavin, folate, and ß-carotene content ranged from 0.17-0.33, 24-53.50, 1.32-2.29, and 7-22.98, respectively. For the minerals in mg/100 g, the zinc, calcium, potassium, and iron content ranged from 0.35-0.54, 39.5-62.75, 1.2-1.8, and 0.017-0.18, respectively. The viscosity, bulk density, swelling capacity, water absorption capacity, and pH ranged from 1577.5-942.5 cP, 0.74-0.79 g/cm3, 0.10-0.30 ml/g, 1.2-1.4 ml/g, and 4.70-5.70, respectively. The sensory scores were rated highly by the panelists. The optimum processing conditions with a desirability of 0.50 gave 29.28% and 130.39 °C feed composition and roasting temperature, respectively.