Sensory and sociocultural acceptability of lucky iron fish in Republic of Benin

Iron deficiency anemia, is the most widespread nutritional disorder; affecting more than 50% of children and women of reproductive age in Benin. Despite the effort made by Benin’ Government, the problem is still increasing. A recent approach is Lucky Iron Fish: LIF (fish-shaped cast iron ingot used to provide dietary supplementation of iron). This research was undertaken in center and south part of Benin, to assess the sensory and sociocultural acceptability, and factors that could affect the use of LIF and it adoption. The present work was an 18 months longitudinal experience, based on semi-randomized non-blinded study design and made use of personal structured interviews and focus groups as data collection tools. Sensory acceptability was carried out on 46 mothers of children, to evaluate their appreciation on stiff maize pasta and tomato soup cooked with LIF; using hedonic test. A qualitative approach was used through household survey (N=125), to research sociocultural acceptability (participants’ perception, knowledge, constraints and barriers related to the use of LIF). Results highlighted that overall all women had a positive appreciation on the two foods prepared with LIF in terms of color, consistency and smell aside from soup for 90% due to the very spicy taste with some women. The cooking conditions added to some religious and cultural beliefs was the factors that affected the adoption of LIF with some women. However, a significant improvement on nutritional education session of LIF is needed. Keywords: Constraints and barriers, dietary supplementation of iron, iron deficiency anemia, knowledge, perception, women of reproductive age