Description
Sub-Saharan Africa has the world's highest rate of food insecurity and malnutrition. Food quality (nutritional, safety, and sensorial acceptance) and food access are necessary to combat this. Bambara Groundnut (BGN) is considered a nutritionally balanced regenerative legume. Consumption of the traditional crop has declined due to cash-crop uptake and BGN’s hard-to-cook factor. WhatIF Foods (WF) has developed BGN milk to valorise BGN and improve livelihoods for small-scale farmers in Northern Ghana. WF aim to tackle malnutrition by ‘re-introducing’ BGN to children in shelf-stable fortified milk form through community school feeding programs and commercially across West Africa; a landscape dominated by sweetened milk powders and excess consumption of sweetened beverages. Sugar-free product design while aligning with local preferences is needed for effective uptake[pl2.1]. A consumer study was conducted with children in partner farmer communities to investigate existing diets, and potential BGN milk flavour preferences. [pl3.1]Interviews and focus groups informed the development of potential formulations. Sensory analysis followed, comparing the flavoured alternatives to unsweetened and sweetened original formulations[pl4.1]. Initial trials indicated that standard sensory techniques including smiley face and ranking tests were ineffective. A methodology was developed combining paired preference and ranking to obtain the children’s preferences between four and three samples. Overall, the original flavour was least preferred while tigernut, banana, and mango flavours were equally preferred. The sugar-sweetened formulation replaced the pure BGN milk in the second analysis and was equally preferred (with the mango) over banana. Consequently, the original product needs modification with the key aspect being sweetness, not a need to ‘mask’ the BGN flavour with a fruit flavour. Standard sensory analysis protocols were adapted and interviews in groups of three were necessary to maximise the engagement but minimise influence between children. [pl5.1]This research serves as an exploration into developing sensory methodologies suited to the rural African context.| Period | 9 Sept 2024 |
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| Event title | EuroSense 2024: A Sense of Global Culture: 11th Conference on Sensory and Consumer Research |
| Event type | Conference |
| Conference number | 11 |
| Location | Dublin, IrelandShow on map |