Formulation of Millet Based Breakfast Recipes, Their Acceptability, Nutrient Content and Popularisation among Children in Orphanages in Chennai City

It is well established that malnutrition with specific reference to iron deficiency anaemia is widespread among children in India. Poverty, ignorance and food insecurity are some of the main causes identified for these problems. The formulation of traditional breakfast recipes with the incorporation of small millets is a logical pragmatic strategy to provide nutrient dense low cost foods to children who are vulnerable to nutrient deficiencies. Hence, in the present study, selected traditional breakfast recipes ( idli ,dosa, idiyappam, kichadi and kozhukattai ) were incorporated with a standardised proportion of millet mix powder prepared using Pearl millet, Barnyard millet Kodo Millet and Little Millet .The recipes were first standardised, tested for their acceptability using standard procedures and were popularised among orphanages. Mean sensory evaluation scores revealed that the acceptable proportion of millet mix incorporated to the standard recipe was 25% of millet mix powder for idli, idiappam , kozhukattai and kichadi and 75% for dosa. Statistical analysis (Students t-test ) showed that all millet mix incorporated breakfast recipes had significantly higher content of iron, calcium, phosphorus and fibre than the standard recipes. The millet mix recipes were popularised in nine orphanages in Chennai city consisting of a total of 450 inmates and were found to be well accepted.