Taste-Test Report: FishFirst! Zambia Research for Development and Scaling up staple-Fish Products for Enhanced Nutrition in the First 1,000 Days of Life

Abstract

Up to 42 mothers participated in the taste-test study. A total of 14 mothers came from each of the targeted districts: Gwembe, Sinazongwe and Siavonga. Overall, the mean (SD) ages of the mothers and children were 27.5 (6.4) years and 13.0 (6.4) years, respectively. There were more female children, 57.1% (24/42), than males, 42.9% (18/42). Mothers’ ComFA+ Taste-Test overall acceptability results showed that ComFA+Kapenta chutney was extremely liked by up to 97.6% (41/42) mothers, followed by ComFA+Chibwabwa Fisashi and ComFA+maize porridge with up to 95.2% (40/42) and 66.7% (28/42) respectively. ComFA+Bean-Vegetable Soup was recorded as the least liked food, with up to 54.2% (13/24) of mothers extremely liking the dish. There were significant differences in the liking of the four ComFA+ traditional dishes (p<0.001), with the difference mainly explained by the ComFA+Bean-Vegetable Soup. Age, nutritional knowledge, attitude, social, economic and culture are some of the factors that affect taste preferences. In the Sensory Trial II– Children’s Taste-Test study revealed that children aged 6-23 months generally liked the ComFA+Maize Porridge. Up to 81.2% (13/16) of infants aged 6-11 months, as well as 88.5% (23/26) of children aged12-23 months extremely liked the porridge at Time 3 (T3). The study has also revealed that the taste preferences and quantity consumed are influenced by the age of children. Conclusion: The intervention strategies for fish powder based nutrition recipes targeting the first 1,000 Days of Life ought to consider sensory pleasure response to foods, demographic and sociocultural variables.