RESUMO
The differing contents of essential amino acids in cereals and legumes bring about an overall increase in protein quality when these foods are consumed together. This study describes a least cost formulation method for preparing products based on cereals and legumes using linear programming. The mixture was formulated under different constraints; from a nutritional standpoint, a given amino acid pattern, and another one on a technological feasibility constraint, which depends on the type of product to be elaborated. From the formulation based on wheat, chick-pea, sorghum, and soybean flours, three products were developed: bread, tortillas and cookies; from these, bread was selected for further evaluation. The product was chemically evaluated by proximate analysis composition, and amino acids were determined by HPLC. Biological evaluation was performed by the PER and RPV methods, obtaining a PER of 1.69 for the developed bread product, and of 0.68 for the control bread. The RPV for the developed product was 64.31% of lactoalbumin and 23% for the control bread, which represents an increase of 41%. The sensory evaluation results did not indicate significant differences in taste, texture, color or overall acceptability of the developed bread product as compared to the control.