Use of heme iron concentrate in the fortification of weaning foods

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the technological feasibility of fortifying homogenized weaning food with a porcine heme concentrate. The st ability of iron and the organoleptic qualities of two infant weaning foods (a commercial homogenized nonfortified weaning food, NFWF, and the same foo d fortified with 0.5% of porcine heme concentrate, FWF) were tested through out; 8 months of storage at room temperature and at 37 degrees C. Heme iron decreased with storage time; however, the proportion of this highly availa ble iron was considerably higher in FWF than in NFWF. The addition of heme iron changed significantly the color of the weaning food measured instrumen tally, although high temperatures and length of storage time, did not modif y L*a*b*, chroma, and hue angle values in both samples. Organoleptic attrib utes presented a marked stability even in NFWF stored at room temperature a nd 37 degrees C.