Development of Extruded Complementary Foods from Blends of Acha . land Cowpea Flours

ABSTRACT

Despite the fact that a variety of improved traditional African complementary foods have been developed from cereal-legume blends (1,2), the traditional products that are a leading cause of protein-energy malnutrition, still remain the primary weaning foods, especially in rural communities, largely because of the high cost of improved complementary foods, The ingredients for low-cost complementary foods must be derived from dietary staples available and affordable in the region of interest (3) and the technology must be simple and relatively inexpensive. This paper reports the development of extruded complementary foods from blends of acha (fonio), probably Africa's oldest cereal, and cowpea, by extrusion cooking.