Studies on the preparation, chemical composition and nutritive value of a spray dried soy food suitable for feeding weaned infants.

A process for the preparation of a spray-dried food (267; protein, IS:& fat) based on
full-fat soya flour, dextrin-maltose mixture and hydrogenated groundnut oil and fortified
with DL-methionine and certain vitamins and minerals has been described. When packed in
air in sealed tin containers, the food was organoleptically acceptable at the end of 6 months'
storage at 37". The protein efficiency ratio (PER) of the food was 2.47 ; fortification of
the food with DL-methionine at a level of 4 g. per kg. markedly increased its PER to almost
the same level as that of a control milk food of similar composition. The overall growthpromoting
value of the product, with or without added methionine as also that of 3 : I blend
of the above foods with cane sugar was significantly higher than that of the milk food or
milk food-sugar blend. However, no significant differences were observed in the feed
efficiency ratios obtained for soya food (with or without added methionine) and milk
food. It may be concluded that in many developing regions where milk is in short
supply and soya-bean is readily available, the spray-dried food costing only about 4s. per kg.
and possessing an overall nutritive value comparable to that of a milk food of similar
composition can be manufactured on large scale and used for supplementary feeding of
weaned infants.