Extrusion processing could improve African food security

Food processing techniques could be key to solving the problem of food insecurity in Africa, researchers say.

While locally grown grains such as sorghum, millet, rice, maize and teff are the staple of many African peoples’ diets, these grains lack good quality protein. However, researchers have discovered that these food crops respond well to extrusion processing.

“To improve the nutrient intake in regions of Africa that experience caloric and acute malnutrition, attention needs to be focused on processing technology, like extrusion, and the use of inexpensive sources of protein materials to fortify them,” writes Kalep Bulus Filli, one of the researchers and a senior lecturer in the department of food science and technology, Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola (MAUTECH), Nigeria.

Filli contributed to an article in the April issue of Food Technology magazine, published by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT). The article outlines how extrusion processing of staple grains can maintain nutrient content while fighting off unsafe contaminants.

According to the researchers, other extrudates with potential include sweet potato, soy beans, Bambara groundnut, malted or unmalted millet-soybean mixture, noodles from cassava and African breadfruit mixes.