Optimization of the Response Surface Method in the Elaboration of a Complementary Food

Access to food is a humanitarian right where every person has the right to eat a qualitative quantity of food, enough to meet their basic needs. Hunger and malnutrition affecting infants and young children in most developing countries are two critical situations and constitute a public health problem. The objective of this work is to realize a formulation of infantile flour by using local products. The methodology applied is that of surface responses using the Box-Behnken matrix with three factors such as yam flour (X1: 40 - 50 g), herring flour (X2: 10 - 20 g) and pigeon pea flour (X3: 20 - 30 g). The optimal experimental conditions of the mixture were established on the composite flour to be cooked, and the effects of the factors on the responses MC, AC, LC, PC, CC, E, FC and WAC meeting the quality criteria based on the standard norms for infant porridges were evaluated. A total of 15 sets of experiments where three levels were assigned to each factor at the top, middle and bottom, and with three additional replicated center points were performed. Statistical results (ANOVA) showed that the experimental data were correctly fitted into a second-order polynomial model with multiple regression coefficients ≥0.6. Using the objective parameters for each response, based on the standard infant flour quality norm by applying the desirability function, yielded optimal conditions for the infant flour formulation to be cooked. These conditions gave: 46.263 g of yam flour; 15.859 g of herring flour and 30 g of pigeon pea flour.