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