Effect of Bambara Groundnut Flour Incorporation on the Nutritional, Phytochemical, and Sensory Characteristics of Tapioca

Nutritional, phytochemical, sensory, and microbial quality of tapioca grits fortified with Bambara groundnut flour was investigated. The nutrient content of Bambara groundnut makes it suitable for fortification of tapioca. Cassava roots were processed into cassava starch while Bambara groundnut was processed into flour. Tapioca grits were prepared by substituting Bambara groundnut flour into cassava starch at levels between 10 and 50%. The fortified tapioca grits were evaluated for functional, proximate, mineral, anti-nutritional, and microbiological quality according to standard methods. The analysis’s findings indicated that the contents of moisture, ash, fat, fiber, protein, and carbohydrates ranged from 6.96 to 9.19%, 1.16 to 1.99%, 7.05 to 11.40%, 0.00 to 1.12%, 5.43 to 17.29%, and 59.54 to 79.40%, respectively. The functional properties were improved by the addition of Bambara groundnut flour to tapioca grits. The values for calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, and zinc ranged from 0.033 to 0.068%, 0.030 to 0.148%, 0.026 to 0.258%, 40.57 to 336.71 mg/kg, and 1.06 to 13.03 mg/kg, respectively. The values for cyanide, alkaloid, tannin, flavonoid, and trypsin inhibitor ranged from 5.65 to 4.77 mg/kg, 3.076 to 3.724%, 0.069 to 0.183 mg/g, 1.290 to 1.778 mg/g, and 0.023 to 0.613 TIA/mg, respectively. The total viable count ranged from 1.20 × 102 to 2.50 × 102 cfu/g for freshly produced tapioca substituted with BGF and 1.00 × 102 to 1.37 × 102 cfu/g for those stored for 30 days. The fungi count ranged from 0.60 × 102 to 1.32 × 102 cfu/g and 2.05 × 102 to 12.65 × 102 cfu/g for freshly produced and stored samples, respectively. The fortified tapioca samples have fungal and total aerobic plate counts that are within the permissible range, which shows that the samples are safe for consumption. Fortifying tapioca grits with Bambara groundnut flour helps to combat protein deficiency, improves functional properties, and turns a low-protein meal into a nutrient-dense meal. However, increasing BGF progressively decreased overall acceptance.