Oilseed Meals an Untapped Resource for Nutritional Innovation

The present investigation was carried out to nutritionally evaluate laddo supplemented with oilseed meals, including sesame meal (SM), flaxseed meal (FM), and groundnut meal (GM) at three level of incorporation (12, 18, and 24%). Composite meal was also prepared by mixing sesame, flaxseed & groundnut meal in equal amounts for the development of laddo similarly at three levels of incorporation (12, 18, and 24%). All the developed laddo were found to be organoleptically acceptable adjudicated by nine-point hedonic scale. Acceptability scores of all kinds of laddo varied between ‘liked moderately’ to ‘liked very much’ category. Laddo with 24% of incorporation of oilseed meal were studied for nutritional composition. Corresponding laddo prepared without oilseed meal was taken as control. Incorporation of all the three oilseed meals individually and in combination resulted in significant improvement in level of crude protein, fat, ash, and crude fiber, which ranged from 13.35-20.03, 25.52-35.99, 3.97-5.70, 4.19-5.14%, respectively. One serving (25gm) of laddo can meet 27% requirement of protein for pre-schoolers as per RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowances) 2020. Value added Laddo if promoted and popularized will help in the utilization of oilseed meals which are generally discarded and have a great nutritive potential which can be used for enrichment of daily diet at a reasonable cost. The developed recipe can be efficiently used as a means of improving nutritional status and to eliminate the malnutrition.