African Journals Online
The Journal of Food Technology in Africa

ABSTRACTS (Vol 5 No 2)

Page 38. The State of Food Insecurity in the World: News brief from Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
From FAO Website, with Permission.

The Introduction
In the developing world, 790 million people do not have enough to eat, according to the most recent estimates (1995/97). That represents a decline of 40 million compared to 1990/92. At the World Food Summit in 1996, world leaders pledged to reduce the number of hungry people to around 400 million by 2015. At the current rate of progress, a reduction of 8 million undernourished people a year, there is no hope of meeting that goal.

Page 40. Biotechnology: Advances and Prospects for Sustainability, in Nigeria.
Musa A. Mark
Chemical Engineering Department Federal Polytechnic, P. M. B. 55, Bida, Niger State, Nigeria

Biotechnology is a multi-disciplinary branch of science whose applications are diverse and because science is dynamic, there is tremendous development in the use of biotechnology in the world. Advances of biotechnology are prominent in Nigeria, where government initiative, the private sector as well as that of NGOs are recognisable.

Advances that have been commercialized are stated, other national provisions for potential developments are also well enumerated. On the other hand, challenges, to be overcome, so as to produce have also been identified. Drawbacks, shortcomings or constraints to meeting biotechnology demands have also been looked at in order to make concrete development agenda in this area of science for this millennium.

Page 43. Supplement: Why Colour Foods?.Colouring Food Products with Roche Carotenoids.

Introduction
Nature is arrayed in the full spectrum of colours. A life without colour would be impossible to imagine.

Man lives with colour, and colour is part of his daily life. This applies also to his eating habits, and it is legitimate to say that man eats not only with his mouth but with his eyes as well. Natural, living colours stimulate the appetite and digestion, and increase the pleasure of eating. It is no accident that saffron, extracts of berries, and other naturally occurring food colours have for centuries been used all over the world for preparing food.

Today, the food industry is the kitchen of the world. It has revolutionised nutrition. Never before have standards of purity, stability, and physiological harmlessness been as high as they are today. New raw materials and new methods of refining and preserving, however, often alter the natural appearance of fresh foods. The natural colours of food must be restored to them if they are to be not merely nutritious but appetising as well.

Page 48. Cyanide detoxification in cassava by-products by fungal solid state fermentation.
Eustace A Iyayi* and Dorothy M. Losel**
*Department of Animal Science,University of Ibadan, Ibadan, NIGERIA.
**Department of Animal and plant sciences, The University of Sheffield, S10 2TN, Sheffield, UK.

Abstract
This study investigated microbial detoxification of cyanide in cassava peels and leaves in solid state fermentation. Three microorganisms, Mucor Strictus, Rhizomucor miehei and Saccharomyces cerevisiae were used to inoculate the cassava by-products. The levels of cyanide in the substrates after 4, 8 and 12 days on inoculation with R. miehei were estimated. Cyanide levels in the substrates 7, 14, and 21 days after inoculation with M. strictus and S. cerevisiae were also estimated.

The three microorganisms caused a significant (P>0.05) reduction in the cyanide of the leaves and peels. M. strictus and R. miehei caused a 66.67% and 77.13% reduction in cyanide level in leaves respectively. Cyanide in the peels was reduced by 49.52%, 80.68% and 76.69% on inoculation with M. strictus, R. miehei and S. cerevisiae respectively. These changes indicated that R. miehei had the best potential in reducing cyanide of cassava by-products among the three microorganisms used for the study. Factors such as changes in texture in the plant tissue, increase _-glucosidase activity and utilization of the cyanogenic glucosides and their products of fermentation breakdown by the microorganisms possibly explain the observed reduction in cyanide levels by the microorganisms.

Three microorganisms used for the study. Factors such as changes in texture in the plant tissue, increase _-glucosidase activity and utilization of the cyanogenic glucosides and their products of fetrmentation breakdown by the microorganisms possibly explain the observed reduction in cyanide levels by the microorganisms.

Page 52: The Orange Juice Distribution Channels: Some Characteristics, Opportunities and Threats
*Marcos Fava Neves, **Evaristo Marzabal Neves
*(School of Economics, Business and Accountancy) of the University of Sao Paolo, Brazil.
**University of Sao Paolo Brazil

Problem Statement, Objectives and Procedures

Abstract
The fruit juice market is growing for several years, and will be continuing to expand, mainly because these products are aligned with general trends regarding food and beverage consumption.

Several changes are taking place in the fruit juice distribution channels environment in Europe, a growing importance of food-service, the penetration of the global beverage brands (mainly Coca-Cola/Minute Maid and Pepsi/Tropicana), the concentration in retailing and also in the FCOJ (Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice) supply. These changes are threatening and also bringing opportunities to companies.

This paper has two objectives. The first is to provide a general overview about the agents in the European marketing channels of the FCOJ, focusing on the final juice consumers, retailing, food service and the beverage industry. The framework for this part is build up of the marketing channel concepts and functions (Stern et al., 1996; Berman, 1996; Rosembloom, 1999), and data was gathered from the literature about fruit juices and provided by European companies in interviews.

The second objective is to produce a strategic analysis of these agents in the channel, listing opportunities and threats for the following years, using the strategic SWOT (strong and weak points, opportunities and threats) analysis (Johnson & Scholes, 1997). According to the Authors, “a SWOT analysis can be a useful way to summarise the relationship between key environmental influences, the strategic capability of the organisation and hence the agenda for developing new strategies (p. 174)”. The analysis will not be done for a particular company, but for the whole industry, and further, as a suggestion, each company can use the listed points to evaluate itself.

Page 59: The Effects of pH and Heat Treatment Processing on the Stability of Natural Food Colours used in Dairy Products.
*Mendi S. D., **Bob Peters, *Tiku Kamga P.
*Institute of Agricultural Research for Development, I.R.A.D. Bambui, P. O. Box 51 Bamenda, Cameroon.
**Milk Marketing Board, Research and Development, Shinfield, Reading, England.

Abstract
This study was carried out to investigate the effects of pH and heat treatment processing on stability and natural food colours used in dairy products. A repeated laboratory experiment was conducted in which loss of colour intensity or change in shade of natural food colours used in acid and nearly neutral dairy products at low and at boiling temperatures was investigated. Five (5) natural food colours out of the fourteen (14) in the study were applied to small-scale industrial processing of UHT milk drinks and laboratory-scale yoghurt making. All the fourteen natural food colours studied were stable to pH changes. Only one natural food colour (Beet root) was destroyed at boiling temperatures while two of the colours (Beet root and Cochineal) were destroyed at UHT (136ºC/4Seconds) processing. It was then concluded that pH changes and Heat Treatment processing do not contribute very much to the destruction of natural food colours used in dairy products.

Key words. pH, Heat, Stability, Food Colours

Page 62: Partial Placement of Maize with Cocoa Husk Meals in Layers Mash: An on-farm experience.
*Olubamiwa, O. And T. O. Akinwale
Cocoa Research Institute in Nigeria, PMB 5244, Ibadan, Nigeria
*Corresponding author- Formerly Sobamiwa

Abstract
The partial replacement value of cocoa husk meals for maize in laying hen diets were assessed under an on-farm condition, Urea-treated and untreated cocoa husk meals were each incorporated into the farmer's layer mash (FLM) to replace 25% of the maize portion. FLM contained 40% maize. Six groups of 15 laying hens which were in the fifth month of lay were randomly allotted to the 3 dietary treatments including the control (FLM), cocoa husk-based mash (CHM) and urea-treated cocoa husk-based mash (UCHM). The diets were fed for 12 weeks. Egg product ion and egg mass were higher (p<0.05) on CHM and UCHM. Egg weight and feed conversion (feed intake: egg mass) were not affected (p>0.05) by dietary treatments. Feed cost was 9% lower on the test diets relative to FLM while feed cost/kg egg was 18% and 13% lower respectively on CHM and UCHM. These results indicate that cocoa husk meal could replace maize up to 25% in layers mash with the possibility of a higher profit margin.

Key words: Cocoa husk meal, layers mash, production performance.

Page 64: Some Quality Changes During Storage of Cassava Root
Mulugeta Taye , Department of plant reproduction and dryland farming
Awassa College of Agriculture

Abstract
Two storage experiments were done at Awassa College of Agriculture during the year 1995 to investigate the quality changes on cassava root. In each experiment, two cultivars namely, Amarokello red (local) and Umbure, and three storage methods, namely, earthen floor (ground), trench storage and sacks were factorially combined and were examined for vascular streak (primary deterioration), tuber weight loss, starch and total protein content.

The blue coloured vascular streak which occurred closer to the rind was found non-significantly different between cultivars, and storage methods. Also, the starch content was almost similar between the storage methods, but was significantly (P<0.05) higher in cultivar Amarokello red than Umbure. The protein content showed little variation between the different storage methods and the cultivars.

Page 66: Using Sweet Potato Amylase Extracts for the Determination of Starch in Foodstuffs
Agnes Nandutu* , Joseph Carasco*, and Vital Hagenimana1 
* Makerere University, Department of Biochemistry, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda.
1 International Potato Center (CIP), Sub-Saharan Africa Region, P.O. Box 25171, Nairobi,

Abstract
A study was carried out to assess the possibility of quantitative determination of starch in starchy foodstuffs using crude amylase extracts from Ugandan sweet potato cultivars. Amylolytic activity in 18 sweet potato cultivars grown at Namulonge was evaluated and there was a significant variation of activity among cultivars tested. Crude extracts from cultivars 271, 120, 137, and Sowola had the highest amylolytic activities and titrated respectively 61590, 56310, 55740, and 55200 units of amylase activity per 100 g of fresh roots. Determination of starch in foodstuffs using crude amylolytic extracts from above sweet potato cultivars was generally sensitive enough and accurate. As far as the starch concentration was lower than 2 mg per sample of foodstuffs, there was no significant difference between routine methods and the method using sweet potato amylase extracts. The method was found to be cost effective compared to other routine and standard methods using commercial and imported enzymes and chemicals.

Key Words: Ipomoea batatas, Post-harvest, Utilisation, Endogenous Enzyme

Page 70: Chemical and Organoleptic Quality of Figs from Selected Sweet bananas Musa Spp.)
Eyabi G, Samalang P., Ehabe E. and Numfor F. A.
Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD), Ekona regional Centre, PMB 25 Buea, Cameroon.

Abstract
The chemical composition and organoleptic quality of four Cameroonian industrial banana varieties at two ripening stages and figs made from them, were evaluated. The results showed that sucrose content and Lovibond colour index increased significantly with ripening in both fresh fruits and figs and appeared to be the main factors that influenced the appreciation of the quality of the figs. Of the four varieties evaluated for appearance, bitterness, texture, odour and taste, figs from Gros Michel were the most appreciated with respect to all the parameters put together