Effect of Cocoa Powder, Banana Pulp and Bambara Nut Inclusion on Nutritional and Sensory Acceptability of Yoghurt

This study was to investigate the effect of utilizing milk powder with addition of Cocoa powder, Banana pulp and Bambara nut extract for the production of functional yoghurt. The yoghurt samples were produced by 10% inclusion of each of the food item into reconstituted skimmed milk powder, inoculated with starter culture (streptococcus.thermophilus and Lactobacillus. Bulgaricus) and allowed to ferment for 9hr. The nutritional properties (Proximate, Brix, PH, Flavonoid, Vitamin C, antioxidant activity) and sensory characteristics (colour, taste, aroma and over all acceptability) were determined. Significant differences (p<0.05) existed among the nutritional and sensory properties of the yogurts. The results showed that the inclusion of used food items improves the Protein, Ash and Energy content of the products. The sample with Cocoa powder had the highest antioxidant activity (2.75mg/100g) which is significantly higher at (p<0.05) than Banana pulp (2.64mg/100), Bambara nut extract (2.44mg/10g) and control (2.25mg/100g) which was the least. The sample with Banana pulp inclusion has highest score (5.70) for taste and overall-acceptability (5.90) using 7-point score ranking and was the most preferred. The microbial load of all the samples were within the limits specified of acceptable counts, making the products safe for consumption as at the time the products were evaluated.