Asian Food Science Journal

Sweet and Bitter Cassava tubers were fermented for production of cassava flours. The samples were peeled, washed with potable water and cut into slices of 5-6 cm length. They were steeped separately in water to ferment spontaneously for 4 days. The samples were serially diluted and 0.1 ml aliquot inoculated on appropriate media and incubated for isolation of bacteria and fungi. Physico-chemical, cyanide and proximate status of the fermented samples were determined. Staphylococcus aureus, Lactobacillus spp., Bacillus spp., Klebsiella spp., Corynebacterium spp., Aspergillus niger, Penicillium, Mucor, Rhizopus and Candidia species were isolated. Lactobacillus, Bacillus and Candida species remained till the end of fermentation. Sweet cassava had total viable bacterial counts range: 3.6 x 10² - 4.1 x 10⁵cfu/ml; coliform counts: 2.7 x 10²cfu/ml - 3.5 x 10⁵cfu/ml and fungal counts 1.6 x 10²cfu/ml - 2.3 x 10⁵cfu/ml while bitter cassava had total viable bacterial counts: 3.3 x 10² - 3.7 x 10⁵cfu/ml; coliform counts: 2.3 x 10² - 3.2 x 10⁵cfu/ml and fungal counts of 1.3 x 10² to 2.1 x 10⁵cfu/ml. Titratable acidity of both cassava samples increased after fermentation while the hydrogen cyanide and pH decreased after fermentation in both cassava tubers varieties. Fermentation reduced the cyanide content in both cassava varieties flours to acceptable limits and eliminated food borne pathogens from the floors thus making the cassava flours safe for human consumption.

Aims: The aim was to produce of ready-to-eat breakfast cereals from blends of local rice (Oryza sativa), malted African yam-bean and orange- fleshed sweet potato [Ipomoea batatas (L) Lam.] (umusco/3 variety) flours as well as to evaluate the nutritional properties, microbiological quality and sensory attribute of the formulated breakfast cereals.

Study Design: The experimental design that was used is Completely Randomized Design.

Place and Duration of Study: The study took place at the Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka between December 2016 and September 2017.

Methodology: The study investigated the application of local rice, malted African yam bean and orange-fleshed sweet potato flour to develop ready-to-eat breakfast cereals rich in proteins and pro-vitamin A. The local rice and malted African yam bean flours were blended in the ratio of 100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40 and 50:50 to produce ready-to eat breakfast cereals which was subjected to sensory evaluation to isolate the best blend (90:10). From the preliminary study, composite flour was formulated by mixing rice flour and African yam bean flour from the best blend in different percentages. Samples of ready-to-eat breakfast cereals were formulated by mixing composite flour (rice and African yam bean best flour blend) with graded levels of orange fleshed sweet potato and 100% rice flour was used as the control sample. The breakfast cereal products were subjected to proximate, pro-vitamin A, microbiological and sensory analysis using standard methods.

Results: The protein, ash, fiber and moisture contents of the blends (rice/African yam bean best blend +orange-fleshed sweet potato flours) were significantly (p<0.05) higher than the control but their carbohydrate content were lower than the control. The protein content, fat, ash, crude fiber, moisture, and carbohydrate contents ranged from 6.82(100% rice flour) to 11.21%(90% rice/African yam bean best blend+ 10% orange-fleshed sweet potato flour), 0.20(50% rice/African yam bean best blend+ 50% orange-fleshed sweet potato flour) to 1.21%(90% rice/African yam bean best blend+ 10% orange-fleshed sweet potato flour), 4.03(100% rice flour) to 15.81% (50% rice/African yam bean best blend+ 50% orange-fleshed sweet potato flour), 1.31(100% rice flour) to 2.80% (50% rice/African yam bean best blend+ 50% orange-fleshed sweet potato flour), 6.61(100% rice flour) to 10.92% (50% rice/African yam bean best blend+ 50% orange-fleshed sweet potato flour) and 63.07(50% rice/African yam bean best blend+ 50% orange-fleshed sweet potato flour) to 80.22% (100% rice flour) respectively. The pro-vitamin content of the samples ranged from 0.13 (100% rice flour) to 2.55 mg/100 g (50% rice/African yam bean best blend+ 50% orange-fleshed sweet potato flour). There was an increase in the pro-vitamin A content as the ratio of orange-fleshed sweet potato increased in the blend. The total viable count ranged from 3.0 × 103 to 6.7 × 103cfu/g while mould was not detected in any of the samples. The microbial content of the samples were satisfactory and not high when assessed using the guideline for microbiological quality of cereal products. The sensory evaluation conducted showed that among the six ready-to-eat breakfast cereals, 100% adani rice breakfast cereals, samples RAYBF1+OPF1 and RAYBF5+OPF5 were highly accepted.

Conclusion: The study has shown that acceptable ready-to-eat breakfast cereals could be produced from blends of Adani rice, malted African yam bean and orange flesh sweet potato flour. Among the different breakfast cereals, 100% adani rice and sample RAYBF1+OPF1 (90 % best blend + 10% orange flesh sweet potato flour) were highly accepted.

An experiment was designed and carried out to assess the survival, growth performance and feed utilization (weight gain, feed conversion ratio, protein efficiency ratio, specific growth rate, feed intake and survival) of Heterobranchus bidorsalis fingerlings fed graded levels of toasted Lima beans seed (Phaseolus lunatus) meal based diets with the aim of establishing the best inclusion level of Lima beans seed meal. One hundred (100) fingerlings with an initial mean weight of 2.5± 0.5g were allotted at random to five treatments in triplicate groups with each treatment tank having five fingerlings and were fed with the compounded diets. The toasted Lima beans seed meal was used to replace soybean meal in the diets in the following proportions: Diet I (0%), diet II (25%), diet III (50%), diet IV (75%) and diet V (100%). At the end of the feeding trials that lasted for 70 days, At the end of the experiment, the Specific growth rate showed no significant difference (P >0.05) among all treatments. Treatment III (3.250) had the highest specific growth rate and Treatment II (2.083) had the lowest value. Relative weight gain was highest in treatment V (20.53) with 100% lima beans and lowest in treatment II (16.95) with 25% lima beans diet inclusion level. Treatment I and IV had no significant difference (P >0.05) but these treatments had a significant difference (P<0.05) with treatments II, III and V also treatment II, III, and V are significantly different (P<0.05) from each other. There was no significant different (p>0.05) in the feed conversion ratio of treatment II, III, IV. There was also no significant difference (p> 0.05) in the feed conversion ratio of treatment I and V. Treatment II, III and IV showed a significant difference (P< 0.05) in the feed conversion ratio with treatment I and V. FCR was highest in treatment II (1.383) and lowest in treatment IV (1.162). Treatment V had the highest feed intake with value 3.775. Treatment I, II, III, IV and V had no significant difference (P> 0.05). Treatment I had the lowest feed intake with value (3.246). Protein efficiency ratio showed no significant differences among all treatment. PER was highest in treatment V (6.346) and lowest in treatment III (5.346). The survival rate was slightly different but not as a result of the feed consumed. Based on the findings in this study, it is therefore recommended that 75% inclusion level of Lima beans meal should be adopted in the formulation of feed for Heterobranchus bidorsalis.

Purpose: The current study aimed to assess the diet quality of urban and rural pregnant women in a south-western district (Jashore) in Bangladesh.

Methodology: It was a cross-sectional study which was conducted among pregnant women (Sample size, N= 154). The respondents were selected from urban and rural areas of Jashore district. Data was collected through a pre-tested questionnaire comprising of socio-demographic and economic data, data on different food groups consumption. The data concerning food consumption was used to assess the diet quality of the respondents. For statistical analysis, IBM SPSS Statistics version 21.0 was used in the study.

Results: Among all the respondents, mean Dietary Diversity Score (DDS) was 5.40±0.96. It was also seen that minimum DDS was 3.0 and maximum DDS was 7.0 among all the pregnant women. A significant difference was observed between the mean DDS of urban and rural pregnant women (P < .05). The mean DDS of urban pregnant women was 6.46±0.19 and mean DDS of rural

pregnant women was 4.61±0.56. Moreover, about 62% of urban respondents’ diet quality was of high level, 27% of urban respondents’ diet was of medium-quality and about 11% of urban respondents were found to have low diet quality. On the other hand, only 18% of rural respondents had high diet quality, 57% had a medium-quality diet and about 25% of rural pregnant women were found to have a low diet quality. 

Conclusion: It can be concluded from the study that the majority of the urban pregnant women of the study area had a higher quality diet than their rural counterparts.

Bambara nut (Vigna subterrenean) is a cheap source of leguminous protein that can be a good substitute for relatively expensive animal protein to reduce malnutrition. Despite its potentials, it remains underutilized owing in part to long cooking time, presence of antinutritional factors and drudgery in dehulling. In this regard, this study determined effects of fermentation on antinutritional and functional properties of bambara nut flour.

Bambara nut was procured from local market in Abeokuta while pure culture of Rhizopus oligosporous was obtained at the Department of Food Science and Engineering, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology. Bambara nut was fermented for 12, 24, 36, 48, 60 and 72h at 32ºC and dried in oven (55ºC/24 h). The antinutritional (tannin, oxalate, phytate, and trypsin inhibitor) and functional properties (water-absorption-capacity, solubility and swelling power) of the composite flour were determined. The data obtained were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics and significance established at P=.05.

Respective range of values for tannin, oxalate, phytate and trypsin inhibitor were 0.08 - 0.32, 0.72 - 1.49, 0.15 - 3.64 and 0.42 - 3.25 mg/g, respectively. Water absorption capacity, solubility and swelling power ranged from 8.67 - 11.04, 52.59 - 53.07, 9.20 - 10.16 and 9.14 9.16%,  respectively. The fermentation process reduced the antinutritional factors and increased the protein content.