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The study entitled "Suitability offood mixes developed by KAU as food supplement under
ICDS" was undertaken with an objective to test the feasibility of using supplementary food mixes
developed by KAU as supplements under ICDS.
Five different supplementary food mixes developed by the Department of Home Science,
KAU were selected for the study. The five selected supplements were banana based mix, ragi
based mix, rice soya based mix, rice based mix and cassava based mix.
All preschool children from five Anganwadi Centres of Kalliyoor Panchayat,
Thiruvananthapuram were cooperated for the study as experimental subjects and all presschool
children from a nearby Anganwadi Centre were selected as control subjects for comparison.
The five supplements were processed in bulk and were fed to the subjects in the form of
sweet puttu for a period offive months, on all working days .The control subjects received the
regular ICDS supplement.
To find out which of the five mixes is most effective as a supplement under ICDS the quality
attributes of the product as well as response to the feeding trial were taken into consideration. The
quality of the products were eva.luated based on availability and familiarity of ingredients used, cost,
nutritional adequacy, ease of preparation, processing loss, yield ratio, overall acceptability and shelf
life of the mixes. The response of the feeding trial was assessed through rate of participation, quantity
consumed, clinical profile, morbidity pattern and variation in anthropometric parameters (like height,
weight, arm circumference, ChestlHead circumference ratio and BM!) of subjects who took part in
the study.







When the quality attributes were assessed ragi based mix had the highest score (17) in terms
of availability and familiarity of the ingredients used to prepare the mix and cassava based mix had
the lowest score (8). The cost of the mixes varied fromRs. 20 to Rs. 75 per kg and rice based mix
was found to be the cheapest while banana based mix was the costliest.
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When the nutritional adequacy of the five supplements were compared rice soya based mix
was found to be the most suitable as all its ingredients can be fitted into the "Food Square". All the
five supplements were found to supply 300 calories and lOgm of protein per serving as per the
norms for a supplement under ICDS. Ragi based mix had an added advantage that it supplied
additional amounts of iron and calcium, when compared to other supplements.
Based on the steps involved and time taken for processing the ingredients to prepare the mix,
the rice based mix and cassava based mix were found to be simple than banana based and ragi
based mixes where the processing procedures were complex and time taking. However rice soya
based mix had the highest processing loss (0.65) while cassava based mix had the lowest value for
processing loss (0.13) and hence had the highest yield (1.94) per unit of raw ingredients processed.
Though all the five mixes had a shelf life of six months, cassava based mix had a shelf life of
nine months since there were neither visible changes nor presence of insects or pests. After the
storage period of six months the rice based mix had the lowest bacterial count. However the total
count W2.S within the acceptable range (50,000/g) range.
When the organoleptic the recipes made from the five mixes were evaluated by expert judges
by and selected mothers, sweet puttu prepared from rice based mix secured the highest score (24
out of 25) when compared to that made from other four mixes for its overall acceptability.
Therefore when the quality attributes of the mixes were taken into consideration as a single
phenomina, cassava based mix was adjudged as the most suitable mix to be used under ICDS
followed by rice based, rice soya based, ragi based and banana based mixes in the descending
order.
The suitability of the mixes were also analysed based on the response to the feeding trial.
There was a significant variation in the quantity of the five supplements consumed by the subjects.
Statistical analysis of data showed a significant difference in the incidence of minor ailments
among the children who received different supplements. Highest diseases incidence was noted
among children fed with banana based mix (12.3%) and the lowest incidence was among those who
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received rice based mix (6.31 %) and for the control group it was 6.65%. Maximum recovery after
supplementation was observed among subjects who had angular stomatitis (45%). There was a
significant variation in the clinical profile of children before and after the feeding trial. When the
clinical profile of children was examined before and after supplementation the maximum shift from
'malnourished category 'to 'normal category' was seen among children fed on rice soya based mix
followed by rice based, banana based, ragi based and cassava based mixes in the descending order.
When the nutritional status of the subjects were analysed before and after the feeding trial of
five months by various anthropometric parameters it was noted that there was a general increase in
all the parameters irrespecti ve of the type of supplement given. Though there was a general increase
in mean height, arm circumference and ChestlHead circmference ratio, the variation due to
supplementation was not statistically significant and hence all five supplements can be considered
to be equally effecti ve in bringing about an increase in the above growth indicators.
However, there was a significant variation in the gain weight and BM! between the subjects
and the percentage gain was highest among those who received rice based mix (11.8% and4.1 %
respectively) and the gain in weight as well as BM! was lowest for those who received banana
based mix (1.1 %). It was suprising to find that the BM! of the control group had reduced over the
period of five months.
When the quali ty attributes and the response to the feeding trial were combined together to
assess the suitability of the mixes as supplement under ICDS, rice based mix was ranked as the
most suitable one with score of 109 out of 145 followed by cassava based (106), ragi based (91),
rice soya based (79) and banana based mixes (70) in the descending order.
Hence it can be concluded that though all the five supplements developed by KAV had
several positive attributes, rice based supplement was found to be the best closely followed by
cassava based mix. Therefore, rice based mix can be recommended as a supplement under ICDS
since it is cheap, highly acceptable, easy to process and prepare and also because it showed a
positive effect on the nutritional status of children.
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