Iron bioavailability, storability and sensory evaluation of iron fortified extruded snacks intended to alleviate iron deficiency in Indian children

Iron deficiency is one of the major health problems in India and is significantly affecting the growth and development of children. The mid day meals offered as an intervention to improve nutritional standards could not fulfill daily iron requirements of children. Iron fortified snack products were developed to supplement these daily meals, by extrusion cooking of nutritional orphan crop finger millet added with fortifying agents NaFeEDTA (sodium iron ethylenediaminetetraacetate) or ferrous fumarate and aonla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn); as a source of ascorbic acid. The extrusion variables were optimized at moisture 18%, barrel temperature 115°C, screw speed 260 rpm and addition of cassava at the rate of 30 %, based on the expansion ratio. Iron bioavailability from products was assessed in terms of Haemoglobin Maintenance Efficiency (HME) through Haemoglobin regeneration assay in chicks. Overall HME was significantly different (p < 0.05) for feed fortified with ferrous fumarate (28.66 %), feed fortified with NaFeEDTA (35.26 %), and feed without fortificant (19.15%). Addition of aonla powder to chick feed significantly improved the HME in case of ferrous fumarate whereas, showed no significant effect in the case of NaFeEDTA and feeds without fortificant. Storage stability was evaluated on the basis of density, hardness, and sensory characteristics for both fresh and stored samples. Samples were fried, dusted with spice mix and were packed for storage studies in low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and aluminium foil packaging material, with or without nitrogen flushing. In conclusion, products fortified with NaFeEDTA and packed in aluminium foil with nitrogen flushing were found optimal in terms of iron bioavailability, storability and consumer acceptability.