NUTRITIONAL AND SENSORY EVALUATION OF FOOD FORMULAS FOR THE ELDERLY

Three soups, three gruels sweeted with sucrose, and three other gruels artificially sweeted, all nine formulas in powder form, were developed. All formulas were elaborated in such a way to supply the nutritional requirements of the elderly according to the American National Academy of Sciences. In elaborating each formulation it was used dehydrated chicken, beef and beef liver; soybean texturized protein; rice, beans and corn pre-cooked mills; banana mill; corn starch; a mix of dehydrated vegetables; soybean water soluble extract; dehydrated whole egg; dehydrated skim milk; powder fat; alcaline cocoa; sucrose; a vitamin and mineral mix and colloring and flavoring materials. The soups basic composition was: protein 20 to 23%, fat 11 to 13%, and carbohydrate 50 to 54%. The gruel formulations were 15 to 18% protein, 13 to 14% fat, and 55 to 62% carbohydrate. Protein efficiency ratio (PER), net protein ratio (NPR) and net protein utilization (NPU) were determined. There were no significant (P > 0, 05) difference between each gruel formula for PER mean and that of casein. However, the gruel NPR and NPU mean values were lower than that of casein. The soups presented lower PER, NPR and NPU mean values than casein. Consumer acceptance sensory evaluation data showed no significant difference (P > 0, 05) among gruel a soup formulas. Mean scores of sensory acceptance test ranged from 7,7 to 8,3 in the nine point hedonic scale used.