September 2004, Volume 10 No. 2

ARTICLE 6

A Nutritious Medida (Sudanese Cereal Thin Porridge) Prepared by Fermenting Malted Brown Rice Flour with Bifidobacterium Longum BB 536

Barka M Kabeir¹, Mustafa Shuhaimi¹, Kharidah Muhammad², Suraini Abd-Aziz³ & Abdul Manap Yazid^1
1 Department of Food Technology, Faculty of Food Science and Biotechnology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, Selangor, Malaysia
² Department of Food Science, Faculty of Food Science and Biotechnology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, Selangor, Malaysia
³ Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Food Science and Biotechnology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, Selangor, Malaysia.

ABSTRACT
The nutritive value of spontaneously fermented brown rice flour medida, a Sudanese cereal thin porridge, is low. This study was carried out to improve the nutritional quality of medida. The flour was soaked and malted at 30°C to optimise the protein content. Flour malted for two days had the highest protein content. Skim milk was added to the malted brown rice flour medida and fermented using Bifidobacterium longum BB 536. Maximum count of B. longum BB 536 up to 9 log CFU/ ml was attained at 4.6 final fermentation pH. The resultant viscosity was similar to that of the spontaneously fermented brown rice flour medida. There was significant (P< 0.01) increase in both the energy density and the protein content, having increased 12 folds and 24 folds, respectively. The essential amino acids including lysine and methionine were highly augmented. The resultant medida have stable flowing characteristics and meet the whole protein and energy requirements for infants and children aged 1 – 10 years old.

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