Paper Title
Proximate, Microbial, and Sensory Properties of Weaning Foods From Millet, Sesame Seed, and Fluted Pumpkin Seed Flour

Abstract
Weaning refers to the introduction of food other than mother’s milk or complete discontinuation of breast milk or introduction of solids to the diet. Weaning foods are usually produced from cereals such as maize, millet, and sorghum. Millet flour was produced and fortified with sesame seed flour and fluted pumpkin seed flour in different proportions (70% Millet with 30% sesame seed flour, 70% Millet with 20% sesame seed with 10% fluted pumpkin flour, and 60% Millet with 20% sesame seed with 20% fluted pumpkin flour and 100% millet which serves as control). The proximate composition, total microbial count, and sensory evaluation of the sample were examined. The results of the proximate composition of the samples showed that the fortification of the samples made the moisture, fiber, and CHO content reduce from 6.5% to 4.0% and 11.0% to 8.8% and 60.1% to 46.2% respectively, while the fat protein and energy value increased from 4.5% to 15%, 16.4% to 23.8% and 346.5kcal/g to 415kcal/g respectively. The result from the total microbial count also indicates that the ogi samples are safe for consumption and that millet fortified with sesame seed flour and fluted pumpkin seed flour is highly acceptable with no significant difference. Therefore, ogi produced from millet, sesame seed, and fluted pumpkin seed are recommended for consumption as a good weaning food because of its improved nutritional qualities such as protein, fat, and energy value. Keywords - Weaning, Breast Milk, OGI, and Pumpkin Seed