Chemical Changes during the Fortification of Cassava Meal (Gari) with African breadfruit (Treculia africana) Residue

The nutritional enrichment of a cassava meal (gari) with African breadfruit seed residue was investigated. Grated cassava (70%) was fermented for 3 days with the incorporation of African breadfruit seed residue (30%) at different stages of the fermentation. The fortified and unfortified gari samples were subjected to nutritional and sensory evaluation. Total cyanide was 1.78±02 mgHCN/100g, for the unfortified gari (batch A) while samples from the two fortified gari (batches B and C) had 1.52±0.1 mgHCN/100g and 1.50±0.2 mgHCN/100g respectively. The water activity of African breadfruit-fortified gari was 1.11-1.13, the swelling capacity was 3.0-3.3, pH was 4.49±0.3. Proximate composition shows that, gari (Batch A) had lower crude protein content (1.96±0.2) as against 9.62±0.3 and 10.71±0.2, for batches B and C respectively. In contrast, unfortified gari had higher crude carbohydrate (81.99±0.2). Ash, moisture and fibre contents were comparable in all samples. Sensory evaluation gave no statistically significant (p 0.05) differences. The fortified gari is capable of reducing the level of malnutrition among the poor in the developing countries, especially in West Africa were gari is a staple