Valorisation of sunflower press cake with moringa leaves: A novel approach to sustainable food ingredient development

• MSC was made by co-processing dehulled sunflower seeds and moringa leaves. • Nutritional profile and pasting properties of formulated MSC were evaluated. • High moringa content increased β-carotene, α-tocopherol, and essential amino acids. • Most pasting properties decreased with moringa leaves addition. Sunflower seed cake (SC), a by-product of oil extraction from sunflower seeds, remained underutilised despite its potential. The study developed a novel, nutrient-dense food ingredient moringa sunflower press cake (MSC) by using dried moringa leaves and dehulled sunflower seeds and evaluated its nutritional quality. MSC was formulated by blending dehulled sunflower seeds with varying ratios of dried moringa leaves (3 %, 5 %, 8 %, 14 %, 22 %, and 30 %) prior oil pressing, resulting in six formulations (MSC 1 -MSC 6 ). Proximate composition, β-carotene, α tocopherol, amino acid profile, and pasting properties were measured using standard analytical methods. Results revealed significant difference ( p < 0.05) in proximate composition, β-carotene, α-tocopherol, and most amino acids across the samples. Pasting properties generally decreased with increasing moringa leaves, except for final and setback viscosities. Among all formulations, MSC 4 (86:14) showed the greatest enhancement in nutritional composition, making it the most promising formulation for food fortification applications. Overall, the findings suggest that co-processing dehulled sunflower seeds with nutrient-rich moringa leaves during oil pressing improves the nutritional quality of the press cake, making potential for use as a fortifying ingredient.