Infant malnutrition remains a serious problem in DR Congo, where many babies are fed thin porridges made from maize, cassava or sorghum that are low in protein and micronutrients. The study, led by researchers at the University of Lubumbashi, set out to find whether dagaa, which is rich in protein, calcium, iron and zinc, could be used to improve the nutritional quality of these staple foods.

The team developed two enriched porridge formulations, one containing 40 percent dagaa and another containing 20 percent dagaa, alongside a control porridge made only from cereals. They then measured the protein, energy, calcium, iron and zinc content of each porridge and compared the results with recommended nutrient intakes for infants aged 6 to 23 months.

The results showed that the porridge containing 40 percent dagaa provided 33 grams of protein per 100 grams, more than three times the amount in the cereal-only control. It also supplied 82 percent of the recommended calcium intake, 55 percent of the recommended iron intake and 60 percent of the recommended zinc intake for infants in a single 100-gram serving. The porridge with 20 percent dagaa performed better than the control but less well than the 40 percent formulation.

The researchers also assessed how acceptable the enriched porridges were to mothers and their babies. In sensory tests with 82 mother-infant pairs, the cereal-only porridge was preferred, but more than two-thirds of mothers said they would be willing to feed the dagaa-enriched porridge to their babies. The babies themselves ate similar amounts of the enriched and control porridges, suggesting that the dagaa formulations were well tolerated.

The study also examined the safety and stability of the enriched porridges over six months of storage. The dagaa porridges remained free from microbial contamination throughout the storage period, and their nutritional content stayed stable, indicating that they could be produced and stored locally without specialized equipment.

The findings suggest that dagaa could be a practical and affordable way to improve infant nutrition in DR Congo and other low-income countries. The fish is already widely consumed, is available year-round and requires no processing beyond sun-drying, making it an accessible ingredient for local porridge production.

However, the researchers note that the enriched porridges did not meet all recommended nutrient levels, particularly for iron and zinc, and that further work is needed to optimize the formulations. They also recommend that future studies assess the bioavailability of the minerals in dagaa and evaluate the long-term effects of dagaa-enriched porridges on infant growth and development.

The study adds to growing evidence that small dried fish could play an important role in tackling infant malnutrition in low-income countries. Similar approaches have been tested in Malawi, where dried fish was used to enrich porridges for babies, and in Bangladesh, where small fish have been promoted as a source of micronutrients for young children.

The researchers conclude that dagaa-enriched porridges could be a valuable addition to infant feeding programs in DR Congo, offering a locally available, affordable and nutritionally dense ingredient that could help reduce the burden of infant malnutrition in one of the world’s poorest countries.

The formulation strategy used in the study reflects a growing recognition that nutrition interventions in resource-limited settings must balance scientific rigor with local practicality. Rather than importing fortified products from abroad, the researchers applied linear programming, an optimization technique that calculates the least-cost combination of ingredients while still meeting predefined nutrient targets. This approach, first adapted for complementary food design in sub-Saharan Africa more than a decade ago, allows formulators to work backward from international recommendations, in this case the World Food Programme’s guidance for complementary foods, and to anchor every decision in ingredients that families in South Kivu already buy and prepare. The targets themselves were deliberately ambitious: the team aimed for nutrient levels equivalent to twice the recommended nutrient intake per 100 grams of dry flour, a threshold recommended precisely because young children in high-burden settings may consume only around 50 grams of complementary food per day, meaning each serving must carry a concentrated nutritional payload.

The choice of processing methods was equally deliberate. Roasting, the primary treatment applied to the maize, soybeans, and dagaa, is a traditional technique across much of Africa that requires no electricity, pressurized equipment, or imported inputs. Beyond its cultural familiarity, roasting serves several technical purposes. For soybeans, heat treatment inactivates trypsin inhibitors, naturally occurring compounds that otherwise interfere with protein digestion and reduce the biological value of the legume. For dagaa, roasting at a lower temperature for a shorter duration reduces microbial loads and softens the characteristic fishy odor that can limit acceptance among caregivers unaccustomed to strongly flavored infant foods. For maize, roasting develops the brown color and toasted aroma associated with locally prepared flours, which likely contributed to the sensory familiarity of the final porridges even as their composition changed substantially.

The nutritional rationale for including small dried fish rests on a distinctive biological feature: when consumed whole, as dagaa typically is, the bones, heads, and flesh are all eaten together. This makes small fish unusually dense in calcium, since the skeletal tissue is ingested directly rather than discarded as it would be with larger species. Studies across several countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia have found that powdered whole small fish can deliver iron, zinc, and calcium at levels approaching those of commercially manufactured micronutrient supplements, at a fraction of the cost. Dagaa itself occupies a specific ecological niche in Lake Tanganyika, one of the most productive fisheries in Africa, where it is harvested in large volumes and traded widely across the region. Its high reproductive rate and the fact that harvests in many areas remain below maximum sustainable yield suggest that scaling up its use in infant foods would not necessarily strain the fishery, though sustainable management remains an important consideration as demand grows.

The findings from South Kivu align with a body of evidence accumulated across the continent. In Ghana, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Zambia, researchers have tested formulations incorporating locally available small fish species into staple-based complementary foods, generally reporting improvements in micronutrient content without unacceptable losses in palatability. Work in Malawi using usipa, another small sardine-like species, demonstrated that maize-soybean-fish blends could improve both nutritional quality and acceptability among infants and their caregivers. These converging results from different countries and different fish species strengthen the case that the approach is not dependent on one particular fishery or one particular grain combination, but reflects a generalizable principle: whole dried small fish can serve as a low-cost, locally sourced vehicle for delivering animal-source nutrients into diets that are otherwise dominated by cereals.

The significance of animal-source foods in infant nutrition extends beyond individual micronutrients. Evidence accumulated over several decades indicates that children whose diets include even modest amounts of animal-source foods tend to grow better than those fed exclusively plant-based diets, a difference attributed not only to the bioavailability of minerals and the quality of protein but also to nutrients such as vitamin B12, preformed vitamin A, and long-chain omega-3 fatty acids that are absent or poorly available in plant staples. In settings where fortified commercial products are unaffordable or unavailable, whole small fish may be one of the few practical ways to introduce these nutrients into the diets of children in the critical window between six months and two years of age, when growth faltering and micronutrient deficiencies become most pronounced.

The microbiological stability observed over six months of storage deserves particular attention in the context of the study region. Persistent armed conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has disrupted supply chains, limited access to refrigeration, and made consistent food distribution difficult. A complementary food that remains safe and nutritionally stable at ambient temperature for months, prepared with equipment no more sophisticated than a hammer mill and a simple roaster, addresses these constraints directly. This durability also matters for household-level production, where flour may be prepared in batches and consumed gradually rather than purchased fresh for each meal.

At the same time, the sensory results highlight a genuine challenge that nutrition programs must confront. The preference for the cereal-only porridge among mothers, even as most expressed willingness to feed the enriched versions to their infants, suggests that familiarity and taste expectations shape caregiver choices in ways that nutritional information alone may not overcome. The fact that infants themselves consumed similar quantities of enriched and control porridges is encouraging, since young children’s acceptance is ultimately what determines intake, but sustained adoption will depend on convincing caregivers that the enriched products are both safe and desirable. Previous interventions in the region suggest that repeated exposure, community engagement, and integration with existing feeding practices can gradually shift preferences, particularly when the unfamiliar ingredient is one that families already recognize and use in other dishes.

The remaining gaps identified by the researchers point toward the next stages of evidence needed before such formulations can be scaled. Mineral bioavailability in whole-fish preparations, which may be influenced by antinutritional compounds in the cereal components and by the form in which the minerals are bound, has not been directly measured in this context. Nor have the longer-term effects on growth, hemoglobin status, or developmental outcomes been established through controlled trials. These questions matter because nutrient targets on paper do not automatically translate into nutritional benefits for children, and because the iron and zinc shortfalls observed in the formulations suggest that further optimization, whether through adjusted ingredient ratios, additional fortificants, or complementary dietary sources, may still be required to fully meet infant requirements.

Subject of Research: Nutrition

Article Title: Nutritional and Sensory Evaluation of Complementary Foods Developed From Staple Grains and Dried Dagaa Fish (Stolothrissa tanganicae)

Article References: Nabuholo, M. A., Mama, O. M., Diouf, A., Bahizire, E., Alexis, G. K., Rodrigue, C. N., & Idohou‐Dossou, N. (2026). Nutritional and Sensory Evaluation of Complementary Foods Developed From Staple Grains and Dried Dagaa Fish ( Stolothrissa tanganicae ). Food Science & Nutrition, 14(10), Article e72463. https://doi.org/10.1002/fsn3.72463

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1002/fsn3.72463

Keywords: infant nutrition, dagaa, DR Congo, malnutrition, porridge, food fortification, micronutrients, Nutritional, Sensory, Evaluation, Complementary, Foods