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

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.

Citation

Funduluka P, Ragsdale K, Mudege N. N, Read-Wahid M, Muzungaire L, Kolbila R, Muzungaile T, Chirwa L. 2022. 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: WorldFish.