Exploring the acceptability of amaranth-enriched bread to support household food security

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the acceptability of an identified staple product enriched with amaranth grain, a traditionally used wild plant familiar to most of the population, after households’ food security status revealed that the majority of them were either at risk or food insecure. Design/methodology/approach A two-phase non-experimental, quantitative survey design with purposive sampling was used to explore the variety of foods consumed and the food security status of lower skilled (n=63) and higher skilled (n=81) income-earning households. During the second phase, recipe development and sensory acceptance of bread enriched with grain amaranth (n=91) were determined. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. Findings Food insecurity was evident among the majority of the lower skilled income households while nearly one in four households in both groups were at risk to become insecure. Daily consumption of chicken and maize meal was evident in lower income households while the frequency in higher income households were significantly less. Bread was found to be the most consumed food product among all households (p=0.001; r=0.455). Supplementation of wheat flour with amaranth flour, a nutritious traditionally familiar wild plant, to support households’ food consumption was investigated. Results from sensory evaluation panels revealed that both bread samples with different percentage of amaranth flour (15 and 25 per cent) were acceptable. Originality/value The most important contribution of this study is the re-introduction and incorporation of a traditional food, amaranth, into a modern frequently consumed food to support households’ nutritional and monetary demands to ultimately contribute to general well-being and household food security.

Consumers’ perception of amaranth in Mexico

“…This work is a first approach towards the study of consumers’ perceptions of healthy foods among the Mexican population. The results here reported illustrate that amaranth has an opportunity niche to increase its consumption in Mexico, as in other emergent countries (Mahomoodally and Ramalingum, 2015; Martínez, 2016; De Beer et al , 2016; De Alburquerque et al , 2018), through its promotion as a healthy food that may be useful for public agencies that encourage these types of products among the population.…”

“…as well as chia ( Salvia hispanica ) and quinoa ( Chenopodium quinoa ) are the most studied of American products (Orona-Tamayo et al , 2018). The interest in amaranth is confirmed by different international publications (Marcone and Kakuda, 1999; Rivera et al , 2010; Venskutonis and Kraujalis, 2013; De Beer et al , 2016; Kristbergsoon and Ötles, 2016; Porras et al , 2016; García-Caldera and Velázquez-Contreras, 2017; Machado et al , 2015; Rios-Hoyo et al , 2017).…”

“…Owing to its richness in macro and micronutrients, amaranth has also been utilised for the development of new products (De Beer et al , 2016; Martínez, 2016). The interest in this food has increased in recent years the number of hectares allotted for its cultivation in Mexico (SIAP, 2015), and its production and consumption has extended to other countries (Porras et al , 2016).…”