Asian Journal of Food Research and Nutrition

The study investigated storage changes in triple fortified tiger nut and moringa seed based aqueous drinks. During accelerated shelf life testing, vitamins C, Retinol Palmitate, pH, Total volatile bases (TVB) and microbial analysis were determined using standard procedures. From the data obtained, storage life  of the drink decreased significantly (p<0.05) with temperature and varied from 10-4 weeks, 30-5 weeks and 34-7 weeks within 10-35oC for Plain Tigernut Moringa Drink (PTMD), Tigernut Moringa seeds plus sugar and Citric Acid Drink (TMSCD) and Tigernut Moringa Seeds plus sugar and citric acid Fortified Drink (TMSCFD) respectively. TMSCD and TMSCFD significantly (p<0.05) lowered microbial growth (<50 cfu/g) as compared to PTMD (1.0×10 cfu/g} after three months  of ambient storage. The pH, vitamin C, and retinol palmitate decreased while Total volatile bases (TVB) increased during storage, the reaction rate constant (k) also  increased significantly (p>0.05) with temperature  ranging from 0.2521-0.6343 (wk^-1) for PTMD, 0.0818-0.4826, and 0.0924-0.2792 (wk^-1) at  40- 70 ⁰C for TMSCD and TMSCFD for vitamin c and 0.16-0.34 for PTMD, 0.12-0.30 and 0.05-0.23 (wk^-1 ) at 40- 70 ⁰C for pH and 0.0553- 0.179 (wk^-1 ) for retinol palmitate with critical values  of 4.81-1.14 mg/100g, 1.49 mg/100g, 7.3-6.5 and 0.88-2.16 gN/100g respectively. This indicates that PTMD stability is improved by use  of the chemical hurdles and also it is an appropriate vehicle for iodine, iron and Retinol Palmitate fortification and protein energy malnutrition (PEM) intervention programmes.