EFFECT OF NUTRITIONAL COMPOSITION ON SHELF LIFE OF CEREALS-LEGUMES BLENDED FLOURS DURING STORAGE

The ubiquitous indulging of cereals and legumes all over the world gives them a momentous abode in international nutrition. The exploration of food component plays dominating ole in the nutritional assessment, shelf life and the inclusive acceptance by the end user. Maize, chickpea and soybean flours were blended uniformly @ 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50% levels with wheat flour to prepared different compositions and stored at ambient temperature in polyethylene bags. During the fortnightly storage period of 45 days, each treatment was assessed for moisture, crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, ash, nitrogen free extract, acidity, peroxide value and mold count. Mean squares of chemical analysis revealed significant differences due to different flour compositions and storage intervals. There was a slight increase in moisture content, total acidity, peroxide value and mold count of the composite flours whereas a decrease in protein, fiber, fat and nitrogen free extract during storage. Ash showed non-significant effect during storage. It is concluded that vacillations in temperature, relative humidity, storage circumstances, length of storage time, storage material as well as enzymatic activity made considerable nutrient losses in cereals-legumes blended flours.