Asian Food Science Journal

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence gum Arabic incorporation on the proximate composition and sensory properties of biscuits produced from flour blends of wheat and water yam. Water yam was processed into flour and used in composite with wheat flour for biscuit production. Two formulations A and B were produced from the mixture of wheat and water yam flour in the ratios of 50:50 and 30:70, respectively. The two formulations each were used to produce biscuits with different concentrations of gum Arabic (0%, 0.3% and 0.5%) and 100% wheat flour as control. Biscuit samples were subjected to proximate and sensory analysis using standard methods. Increase in the concentration of gum Arabic resulted to an increase in the moisture content (5.63-6.41% and 5.31-6.01%), crude fibre (1.13-1.95% and 2.22-3.40%) and carbohydrate contents (76.96-78.99% and 73.73-77.75%) for formulations A and B, respectively. A decrease in the ash content (3.11-2.85% and 4.60-2.78%), fat (5.35-2.56% and 5.62-2.51%) and protein content (7.82-7.24% and 8.52-8.05%) was also observed as the concentration of gum Arabic increased for formulations A and B, respectively. Result of the sensory analysis revealed that the control biscuit sample was more preferable for colour, taste, flavor, softness and general acceptability while biscuit samples containing 0.5% gum Arabic was more preferred for crispiness and hardness. The result also showed that the incorporation of gum Arabic led to increased sensorial attributes of wheat/water yam composite biscuits. The control sample and biscuit sample containing 30% water yam flour, 70% wheat flour and 0.5% gum Arabic were significantly similar for crispiness, hardness, softness and overall acceptability suggesting that gum Arabic can be incorporated at 0.5% into wheat and water yam composite flour at 70% and 30%, respectively for the production of acceptable and quality biscuits.

Aim: The aim of this study was to find out the quality of street food as means of total coliform count and identify the relationship with the personal hygiene of the food vendors during cooking, processing, and serving of these foods as well.

Study Design:  It is a cross-sectional study of nature.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in the Department of Food Technology and Nutrition Science, Noakhali Science and Technology University, from October 2019 to February 2020.

Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted with a pretested structured questionnaire by convenient sampling method. Apart from data collection from 40 street vendors, nine types of street food were selected for analysis from those vendors, and a total of 40 samples were collected for a laboratory test. Most Probable Number (MPN) method was used for the determination of total coliform count.

Findings: From the study, it was found that about 70% of food samples had a satisfactory level of coliform count (total coliform < 100 per gm). The study also identified that people aged 25 to 35 years had a greater satisfactory bacterial level (84.6%) in the foods, they sold due to incognizance about hygiene, significant relation between the timing of business and the bacterial count (p=0.049) was also reported in the present study.

Conclusion: The present study was conducted to identify the quality of street food and the hygiene behaviors of the food vendors and the paper find out the need of proper education and training might be a compatible way to enhance the quality of street foods as well as to ensure a healthy lifestyle for the consumers.

Postharvest cooling of fresh produce is essential to delivering high quality produce to the consumer. African eggplants are chilling sensitive at temperatures below 10°C, there is need to store them at higher temperatures because of their tropical nature. Evaporative coolers suitable for tropical fruits storage were therefore designed and constructed. 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). A study was conducted to evaluate the physicochemical, microbial and sensory parameters of African eggplant stored in two evaporative coolers- aluminum-cladded burnt-clay-brick evaporative cooler (ABBEC) and non-cladded burnt-clay-brick evaporative cooler (NBBEC). Weight loss, total soluble solids, total titratable acidity, beta carotene content, ascorbic acid content, pH and microbial load were assessed during storage. Metabolic rates of African eggplant 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 load increased during storage of African eggplant. The evaporative coolers reduced the storage temperature and increased the relative humidity within normal level of storage thereby extending the shelf life of eggplant from ten days at ambient to twenty-one days in ABBEC storage condition.  ABBEC storage is therefore recommended for stop gap extension of shelf lives of fresh produce.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the Amino Acid profile/score and In-vitro protein digestibility of composite biscuits produced from blends of Wheat flour (WHF), African breadfruit flour (ABF)and Moringa seed flour(MSF) at the following ratios (Sample A: WHF 100%: ABF 0; MSF 0, B= WHF 77.5%:ABF 20%: MSF 2.5%, C=WHF 75%: ABF 20%: MSF 5.0%, D= WHF 72.5%: ABF 20%: MSF 7.5%. E = WHF 70%: ABF 20%: MSF 10%, F = WHF 90%: ABF 0: MSF 10%, G = WHF 80%: ABF 20%: MSF 0). The most predominant Amino Acid in ABF was glutamic (12.27 g/100 g) followed by Aspartic and lysine, with values of 8.96 g/100 g and 6.55 g/100 g, respectively. Glutamic Acid content of the biscuits ranged from 10.96 g/100 g – 12.96 g/100 g, with sample B giving significantly higher value. Substitution with MSF resulted in decreasing glutamic acid content levels in the formulated biscuits, while lysine, phenylalanine and Isoleucine improved with the addition of 10% Moringa seed flour. Amino acid Scores of the biscuits using Hen egg as standard showed that whole egg had a higher amino acid score except glycine (1.04 – 1.25). Percentage In-vitro protein digestibility ranged from 10.64% - 47.33%, showing that addition of moringa seed flour and African breadfruit flour improved digestibility values from 10.64% to 47.33% for sample E with the control sample (wheat flour biscuit) being significantly lower. Substitution with ABF and MSF improved protein digestibility of the produced biscuits. Also, the Amino acid scores of the formulated biscuits were higher than the FAO recommended daily dietary requirements for Amino acids.

This study was aimed to prepare amala (Phyllanthus emblica L.) chutney and to determine its phytochemicals and nutritional compositions, antioxidant activity and sensorial properties. The amala pulp and sugar were mixed separately at the proportion of 70:30, 60:40, 50:50, 40:60 and 30:70 and labeled as samples A, B, C, D and E respectively. Sample A exhibited highest tannins, total polyphenols, flavonoids content and percent DPPH inhibition (198.9 mg GAE/g, 606 mg GAE/g, 153.47 mg QE/g and 61.67% respectively), and sample B exhibited highest ascorbic acid content (325.4 mg/100g) among the chutney samples. The crude proteins, crude fat, crude fiber, total ash and moisture content were higher (2.1%, 0.328%, 5.03%, 1.73% and 51.17% respectively) in sample A. The carbohydrate content and energy value were higher (66.16% and 267.9 Kcal/100 g respectively) in sample E. Total sugar, TSS and pH (75.93%, 60.3 °Bx and 4.56 respectively) was higher in sample E while acidity (1.21% as citric acid) was high in sample A. Most of the sensory attributes were significantly higher (P<0.05) in sample C, signifying to use the equal proportion of pulp and sugar for the preparation of amala chutney.

The aims of this study were to characterize the kinetics of enzymatic hydrolysis of sago starch, obtained from Southeast Sulawesi Indonesia. The enzyme used for hydrolysis was bacterial ∝-amylase (Termamyl 120L from Bacillus licheniformis, E. C. 3.2.1.1).  The method to determine the initial velocity (V_o) of the hydrolysis was developed by differentiation a nonlinear equation (NLE).  The V_o of the hydrolysis was measured at various pH (6.0, 6.5,and 7.0), temperatures (40, 60, 75 and 95^oC), enzyme concentrations (0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 µg per mL) and in the presence of 70 ppm Ca⁺⁺. The optimum conditions of this experiment were found to be at pH 6.5 – 7.0 and 75^oC, and the V_o increased with increasing enzyme concentration. The V_o values at various substrate concentrations were also determined, which were then used to calculate the enzymes kinetics constant of the hydrolysis, including Michaelis-Menten constant (K_m) and maximum velocity (V_max) using a Hanes plot.  K_m and V_max values were found to be higher in the measurement at pH 7.0 and 75^oC. The K_m values  at four  different combinations of pH and temperatures (pH 6.5, 40^oC; pH 6.5, 75^oC; pH 7.0, 40^oC; pH 7.0, 75^oC) were found to be 0.86, 3.23, 0.77 and 3.83 mg/mL, respectively; and V_max values were 17.5, 54.3, 20.3 and 57.1 µg/mL/min, respectively. The results obtained showed that hydrolysis rate of this starch was somewhat low.