Asian Food Science Journal

Burkina, a drink prepared from millet and milk, is gaining economic attention in Ghana due to its perceived nutritious nature and high energy content. The drink which is produced on a small-scale is usually vended without proper control of storage conditions leading to rapid loss of quality. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of storing burkina at different temperatures (4 and 30°C) on the microbial and physicochemical (pH, titratable acidity, brix and phenolic content) quality of the drink. The pH, titratable acidity, brix and phenolic content of freshly prepared burkina were 3.65, 0.49%, 2.05 and 0.26 mg GAE/100 g, respectively. Although, changes were observed, storage temperature did not have a significant effect on the physicochemical quality of burkina. The initial load of aerobic mesophiles, lactic acid bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, and yeast and moulds in the freshly prepared Burkina were 6.45, 5.49, 2.58 and 4.45 log cfu/mL, respectively. Storage at the higher temperature resulted in an increased microbial load within 48 h, leading to faster spoilage, with only marginal increases observed at the lower storage temperature.

A study was conducted to assess the performance of evaporative coolers for the storage of fruits and vegetables. The evaporative coolers used for this study consist of double-walled rectangular brick construction (1.29 × 2.55 × 2.56) m external and (1.13 × 1.27 × 2.08) m, internal, (length × width × height) with the inter-space filled with river bed sand saturated with water. In this study, ambient storage temperature ranged from 26.6 to 28.7^oC with relative humidity which ranged from 64.7 to 85.2 percent. However, NBBEC storage recorded lower temperature within the range of 24.3 to 25.3^oC and relative humidity which ranged from 88.8 to 91.2 percent while ABBEC storage recorded the least temperature which ranged from 23.0 to 24.1^oC with highest relative humidity which ranged from 91.4 to 92.8 percent. The papaya fruits stored in the coolers and in ambient were evaluated for weight loss, total soluble solids, pH, total titratable acidity, ascorbic acid, beta carotene content and microbial load. TTA, ascorbic acid, beta carotene decreased; while pH and TSS increased with storage period. In ambient storage, fresh papaya fruits stored in evaporative coolers have lower microbial load compared to ambient storage with aluminum cladding of the cooler (ABBEC) further improving microbial quality and shelf life. The pawpaw fruits stored in the aluminum cladded burnt-clay-brick evaporative cooler (ABBEC) remained fresh and firm for ten days compared to three days in non-cladded burnt-clay-brick evaporative cooler (NBBEC) and four days in ambient storage.

Large quantities of oranges are wasted during storage due to its highly perishable nature. Research was therefore conducted on quality evaluation of orange fruits stored in aluminum-cladded (ABBEC) and non-cladded burnt-clay-brick evaporative coolers (NBBEC) to prevent postharvest loss. Essentially, the evaporative coolers comprised of double burnt-brick walls (1.29 × 2.55 × 2.56 m) external and (1.13 × 1.27 × 2.08 m) internal, (L × W × H) with wet sand bed in between and a storage space of (1.13 × 0.36 × 1.32 m), (L × W × H). Metabolic rates of oranges were highest at ambient storage, intermediate in NBBEC with the least value in ABBEC. Beta carotene, ascorbic acid and acidity decreased while total soluble solids, pH and microbial loads increased during storage. ABBEC storage resulted in 4.0 to 5.3°C decrease in ambient temperature with corresponding higher relative humidity over the non-cladded burnt-clay-brick coolers.

The aim of this work was to produce and evaluate the physiochemical properties of cow milk based beverage made from a blend of cow milk, honey, cocoa powder, ginger and garlic. The  composition of the samples were as follows: sample A (1 L cow milk), sample B (1 L cow milk, 0.12 L honey, 25 g cocoa powder), sample B served as base ingredients for samples C and D and prepared 1% ginger, 0.5% garlic were added to samples C and D, respectively. Sample A and sample E (vitamilk), respectively served as control I and control II. The chemical properties and proximate composition of the milk beverage samples were investigated. The result of chemical properties showed that the pH values ranged from 6.11 to 6.52 and were all slightly acidic while the percentage titratable acidity had the highest value of 0.168 for sample D and the least value of 0.086 for sample A. In terms of proximate composition, sample A had the highest percentage moisture content of 90.75±0.21 while sample C had the least moisture content of 87.7±0.28. The % protein, carbohydrate, fat, and ash contents increased as 1% ginger and 0.5% garlic were added to samples C and D and were significantly difference (P<0.05) for all the samples. Sample C had the highest value of 5.15% protein content while sample A had the least value of 2.85%. The percentage ash content ranged from 0.96±0.007 to 0.58±0.007. The fiber content of all the samples were below 2.25±0.007. A similar trend was also observed for the values of minerals and vitamins which showed a significant difference (P<0.05). This work has shown that there is improved nutritional content of the samples B, C and D which will go a long way to alleviate malnutrition. The pH of all the samples were near neutral, this could negatively affect the shelf stability of the milk beverage as a result of possible microbial infestation and thus there is every need to keep the product always refrigerated before use or should be consumed fresh.

Aim: To ascertain scientifically by proximate analysis, the nutrient composition and mineral contents of the American cockroach Periplaneta americana.

Study Design: Completely randomized sample design (CRD) was engaged in the study with 15 parameters replicated five (5) times, totaling seventy five experimental samples. The whole experiments were repeated in three trials.

Place and Duration of Study: Postgraduate laboratory, Faculty of Science, Niger Delta University Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State, Nigeria between September 2019 and February 2020.

Methodology: The nutrient composition and mineral profile of the cockroaches were ascertained using randomly selected cockroach sample while adopting standard procedures of AOAC, (1990, 2005).Statistical analysis and significant difference tested at alpha level p≤ 0.05 was done using Turkey HSD test for difference between mean while results were presented in tables. The software used was SPSS version 20.

Results: The results for proximate analysis of nutrients found in P. americana are given as follows: moisture content: 12.42±1.6%, Crude ash: 3.52±0.8%, crude protein: 8.72±1.3%, crude fat: 17.64±1.9%, fibre: 21.28±2.1%, Carbohydrate (dry method): 87.56±4.2% and Carbohydrate (free nitrogen extract): 48.76±3.1%. Furthermore, P. americana was proven rich in both micro and macro minerals in very high to low concentrations such as:calcium (468.00±9.7mg/100g), magnesium (362.00±8.5mg/100g), iron (274.60±7.4mg/100g), potassium (242.5±7.0 mg/100g), phosphorus (128.76±5.1mg/100g), sodium (110.68±4.7mg/100g), manganese (12.63±1.6mg/ 100g), copper (7.54±1.2mg/100g) and zinc (4.74±1.0mg/100g). All results were calculated as mean percentages of five experimental evaluations.

Conclusion: Cockroaches are omnivores and feed on rotten vegetables, waste products from industries such as brewer’s yeast, leftover bread, brewer’s spent grains and several other food materials, hence they are very well efficient at turning plant based feed into animal protein. This makes them efficient projectors for addressing the problem of shortage of animal proteins thereby fulfilling the food security goal of sustainable development.