Sensory Evaluation of Wheat Flour Blends Enriched with Finger Millet for Calcium Fortification

Aims: To enrich wheat flour, a calcium-poor staple cereal with finger millet (in three different combinations) to enhance the calcium content, and to determine acceptability of the blends.

Study Design: Cross-sectional study.

Place and Duration: SVT College of Home Science and KHS-Medical Research Centre, Mumbai, between July and November 2021.

Methodology: We developed blends of finger millet + wheat flour in three ratios: 50:50, 60:40, and 70:30, respectively. These were evaluated by 28 semi-trained panellists using the 9-point hedonic scale for color, texture, taste, aroma, overall acceptability, and the ranking test. Additionally, a consumer panel consisting of 722 housewives evaluated the flour blends using three tests: Just-about-right (JAR) scales, Food Action Rating (FACT) Scale and Pictorial Scale.

Results: Semi-trained panel: As the proportion of finger millet flour increased in the blends, the mean hedonic scores were lower for texture, taste, aroma and overall acceptability. The most preferred blend was the one containing equal amounts of wheat flour and finger millet flour.

Consumer Panel: On the JAR scale, mean values for colour, texture, taste and overall acceptability suggested that the 60:40 blend was felt to be ‘just about right’. The FACT scale indicated that majority of consumers were willing to purchase the 50:50 blend, although more than half were willing to purchase all three blends. Results of the Pictorial scale indicated that majority of housewives rated the blends as ‘good’ and ‘super good’. The 50:50 blend was given the first rank by a higher percentage of consumer panellists.

Conclusion: Among the three blends, the 50:50 flour blend was the most acceptable. This blend contains 147.5 mg of calcium/100gm of flour contributing to 18.4% of EAR. This blend can be used in various traditional Indian and bakery products so that consumers will have access to more nutritious flours.