**2.3 Fortification of** *Ogi***, a local weaning food**

Our first case study is on the fortification of a popular Nigerian weaning food known as *ogi* (maize porridge) with a polyphenol-rich extract from leafy vegetables. This study is justified by the state of malnutrition among the women, nursing mothers, and children, in rural Nigeria where fortification of weaning as well as convalescent foods became necessary. For example, UNICEF [16] estimated that 37% of children in Nigeria are stunted (chronically malnourished or low height for age) with more than half of them severely stunted. The same report also highlighted that 18% of children suffer from wasting (acutely malnourished or low weight for height) and 20% of children are underweight (both acutely and chronically malnourished or low weight for age). Several works have been done on the fortification of weaning foods with plant products, such as cocoa solids [17], moringa leaf powder [18], moringa seed [19], pawpaw [20], cowpea [21], melon [22], okra seed meal [23], soybean [24], African yam bean [25], carrot [26] and many others. However, the fortification of maize *ogi* with vegetable polyphenol-rich extract is a promising innovation. The MicroVeg-optimized procedure for the production of vegetable leaffortified *ogi* is simple and cost-effective. The maize *ogi* was prepared as a slurry and later dried to produce a cake as shown in **Figure 1**. The vegetable polyphenol was extracted by squeezing vegetable leaves in water at the ratio of 1:2. The extract was filtered to remove vegetable particles and the filtrate was stored in the fridge at 4°C. The *ogi* cake was first made into a slurry by dispersing the cake in water. Thereafter, the polyphenolic filtrate and *ogi* slurry were mixed together at varying proportions (10/100, 25/100, 50/100, 75/100, and 100/100 ml/g of filtrate to slurry) prior to drying at 55°C in a hot air cabinet oven to produce vegetable leaf-fortified *ogi* flour [27]. The vegetable leaf-fortified maize *ogi* powder was reconstituted by adding 1.5 parts of water to make a suspension. To the suspension, 100 ml of hot water was added with continuous stirring to produce maize *ogi* hot porridge of desired consistency. The fortified *ogi* samples were subjected to sensory evaluation, in terms of acceptability of taste, color, flavor, texture, appearance, and overall acceptability.
