Development of a sorghum and pearl millet-based instant breakfast cereal for the South African National School Nutrition Programme

Abstract

Background: The National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) in South Africa was introduced in 1994 to address hunger, malnutrition, and access to food among disadvantaged school children. Many schools that access the NSNP are currently benefiting from sponsored breakfast programmes funded by major food companies; however, the initiative is provided to a limited number of schools. Despite these efforts, many learners start their day without breakfast, leading to low energy and poor concentration levels, highlighting a gap in the current NSNP meal provisioning structure. In 2024, the Department of Basic Education and National Treasury pledged to implement breakfast provisioning as part of the NSNP. However, the rollout has been delayed due to budget constraints and the limited range of breakfast options (maze-meal porridge) provided by major food companies. The revival of indigenous grains can contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) focused on climate action, zero hunger, sustainable consumption, and good health and well-being. Developing a nutritious and filling breakfast porridge using indigenous grains could address hunger while providing learners with sustained energy and thereby enable them to focus until their next meal. Aim: This study aimed to develop a tasty, nutritious, and cost-effective breakfast cereal suitable for the NSNP, using sorghum and pearl millet as the base ingredients. Methodology: The study population consisted of learners aged 7-20 from four quintile 1-3 schools, two primary and two secondary schools, participating in the NSNP in the iLembe district of KwaZulu-Natal. A breakfast needs assessment, and preference survey informed the food product development process. Consent was obtained from 405 school learners to participate in the breakfast needs and preference survey. A sensory acceptable breakfast porridge was developed following the systematic steps of food product development using a 1:1 ratio of fermented sorghum and pearl millet. A pure lactic acid bacteria (LAB) starter culture was isolated and used to ferment the sorghum. To make the instant porridge, the fermented sorghum, pearl millet, and other ingredients were then cooked, dried, grounded and packaged. The developed instant porridge underwent sensory analysis throughout the product development process using a 9-point hedonic rating scale. Consenting Food and Nutrition students experienced in the sensory assessment process were used to analyse the sensory acceptability of the trial recipes during development. The instant porridge was also subjected to nutrient analysis, microbial, and shelf-life testing. Thereafter, the instant porridge underwent a final sensory analysis using a 7- point facial hedonic rating scale among 200 consenting learners aged 7-20 from the four participating schools to assess the product’s sensory acceptability. Results: The breakfast needs and preference survey showed that a significant percentage of the school learners most times consumed breakfast (35.1%) or sometimes consumed breakfast (49.9%) (p<0.00). It was found that most learners consumed breakfast inconsistently. Of the learners who inconsistently consumed breakfast, 56.7% indicated that they often skipped breakfast due to lack of time, whilst an alarming 30% said it was due to not having access to food. Primary school learners received a breakfast porridge from the NSNP at school, whereas high school learners did not. Popular breakfast cereals, such as Corn Flakes, All Bran Flakes and Weet-Bix, were preferred by 53.3% (n=216) among the learners. Regarding preference for breakfast porridge flavours, a significant percentage (40.2%) of the learners indicated that they preferred a chocolate-flavoured breakfast cereal (p<0.001). The porridge had a protein content of 10.1g/100g, dietary fibre (5.8g/1100g), vitamin B1 (0.37mg/100g), B3 (16.46mg/100g), phosphorus (3.15mg/100g), iron (3.81mg/100g) and zinc (1.24mg/100g). The porridge was deemed microbiologically safe, and had a shelf-life of 12 months. Findings from the learner sensory assessment of the developed product by learners indicated that learners rated the product as ‘good’ (35.0%, n=70), ‘super good’ (26.5%, n=53) and ‘really good’ (14.5%=29). While both boys and girls rated the developed breakfast cereal above 4, on average, boys (mean = 4.7) rated it significantly higher than girls (mean = 4.16), (p=0.002, according to the t-test). However, there was no significant correlation between sensory scores across grade and age groups. Conclusion: The findings of the current study highlights and emphasises the need to address the nutritional needs of NSNP learners by incorporating a breakfast component. The study identified the preferred quality attributes of the breakfast cereal by the quintile 1-3 school learners. A nutritious, cost-effective, fermented sorghum and pearl-millet porridge pocessing the preferred quality attributes was developed. The developed porridge can supplement the recommended daily allowance (RDA) shortfall of the NSNP and help achieve several SDGs for general health and well-being. By offering a nutritious breakfast option, the developed porridge can improve school attendance and learners’ cognitive performance, contributing to their overall growth and educational success. Sorghum and pearl millet, as indigenous grains, would play the role of an affordable, readily available key base ingredients and hence vital and sustainable source foods for improving the food and nutrition security of school learners accessing the NSNP.