Enrichment of food blends with bambara groundnut flour: Past, present, and future trends

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to review the literature (1993 to 2019) on the protein content and use of bambara groundnut in processed foods to improve nutritional value. Bambara groundnut is a legume, which is rich in protein. The protein content of bambara groundnut may vary with cultivar, growing conditions, and location as well as processing method. Complementary foods have been formulated with bambara groundnut as an ingredient. Bambara groundnut has also been used in many other food formulations and this has improved the protein content of such foods. Most of the food products containing high quantity of bambara groundnut despite the high protein content are not acceptable based on sensory evaluation especially taste and flavour. Some researchers have attempted to improve on the sensory properties of products containing bambara groundnut through some processing methods such as roasting, germination, and extrusion. Future studies may include improving the sensory properties of products enriched with bambara groundnut as well as investigating the digestibility of the products using in vivo and in vitro methods.

Bambara Groundnut: An Underutilized Leguminous Crop for Global Food Security and Nutrition

“…Nwadi et al (11) recently reviewed studies on the application of Bambara groundnut flour in a number of products including snacks and pastries, breakfast cereal and pasta, traditional foods, composite flour, complementary food, and milk and yogurt. To summarize, most studies (77)(78)(79) reported that the protein content of the Bambara groundnut flour-incorporated products increased with the supplementation level, but sensory attributes were negatively affected.…”

Fonio and Bambara Groundnut Value Chains in Mali: Issues, Needs, and Opportunities for Their Sustainable Promotion

“…A good example was the absence of Bambara groundnut dishes in restaurants and supermarkets in the study sites, as was anecdotally noted by the research team. Product diversification for Bambara groundnut was also very limited despite the versatility of processing that is possible for this crop, especially by grinding it into flour [52]. Biological issues, such as long cooking time, may still constitute an important problem in this regard.…”

The prospects of African yam bean: past and future importance

“…In this study, the authors reported a marginal increase in protein composition for all complemented samples (Table 4). Generally, enhanced protein content values are reported for fortified and enriched cereals (Mbata et al, 2009;Abioye, 2015;Arise et al, 2015;Afolabi et al, 2018;Oyeyinka and Oyeyinka, 2018;Adeyemo and Olufemi, 2019;Nwadi et al, 2020). Fortification results in improved mineral content of the new product.…”

“…Traditional foods are generally prepared and consumed among people who live in rural areas and occasionally by urban dwellers (Nwadi et al, 2020). Many of these foods are prepared from carbohydrate-dense ingredients with low protein content.…”

“…Because AYB is rich in protein and other nutrients, it has been used in the development of fortified and enriched foods, although both words were used interchangeably by some authors. Food fortification has been described as the inclusion of important micronutrients and vitamins not originally present or present in infinitesimal quantity within foods from other foods (Oyeyinka and Oyeyinka, 2018;Nwadi et al, 2020), whereas food enrichment involves the addition of nutrients (macro or micro alike) to foods to compensate for losses that may have occurred during processing (Nwadi et al, 2020). The bean has been used in the development of cookies and snacks (Idowu, 2014;Igbabul et al, 2015), an imitation yoghurt (Amakoromo et al, 2012), composite flour with rice and brown cowpea seeds (Iwe et al, 2016), breakfast meals (Babarinde et al, 2019), traditional snack food such as Kokoro (Idowu, 2015b), maize -AYB meal composite (Idowu, 2015a), AYB enriched fufu (Aniedu and Aniedu, 2014).…”