ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to determine the proximate and sensory evaluation of snacks from African breadfruit and sweet potato flour. To achieve this, 4 specific objectives were formulated. 4 research questions guided the study. The study adopted an experimental research design. Sweet potato and African breadfruit were processed into flour using different processing methods. The composite flour was used to produce snacks and the proximate composition of the unblended flour samples were determined ( energy value, moisture content, protein content, fat content, carbohydrate content, fibre content and ash content. The sensory properties of snack samples on (color, texture, taste and overall acceptability) were carried out by 20 panelists using a 9 point hedonic scale as follows, 1- dislike mostly and 9- like mostly. The results revealed that values for breadfruit flour was higher in moisture content, protein content, fat content and fiber content than that of sweet potato flour. The moisture, protein, fat and fibre content were 9.28, 7.40, 5.58 and 5.20 respectively. While sweet potato flour had higher energy value, carbohydrate content and ash content with values 374.78, 87.23 and 1.60 respectively. The results for the proximate composition and energy value of the composite flour blends ranged from 290.72 to 360.80 k /cal energy, 6.29 to 11.27% moisture, 1.90 to 6.07% protein, 1.72 to 3.31% fat, 73.57 to 85.03% carbohydrate, 1.53 to 3.07% fiber and 0.82 to 1.60% ash. Among the composite samples, sample D (50% sweet potato and 50% African breadfruit flour) exhibited higher values in protein, fat, fiber. The sensory properties results show that panelist preferred the control mostly in both meat pie and queen cake samples than the formulated snacks. Based on the findings, it was recommended that diversification of the use of these local food crops should be encouraged. Suggestions were made for further studies.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Title
page i
Certification ii
Declaration iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgement v
Table of Contents vi
List of Tables vii
List of Figures viii
List of Plates ix
Abstract x
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background
of the Study 1
1.2 Statement
of the Problem 5
1.3 Purpose of the Study 6
,1.4 Research
Questions 7
1.5 Hypotheses 7
1.6 Significance of the Study 7
1.7 Scope of the Study 8
CHAPTER
2: LITERATURE REVIEW 10
2.0 Conceptual
Framework 11
2.1 Snacks 13
2.2 Origin of Sweet
Potato 15
2.2.1 Sweet
potato cultivation and production 16
2.2.2 Nutritional
composition of sweet potato 18
2.2.3 Utilization
of sweet potatoes 19
2.3
History, Origin and Distribution of
African Breadfruit 21
2.3.1 Morphological
characteristics of varieties of breadfruit 23
2.3.2 Production of African breadfruit 24
2.3.3 Nutritional composition of African breadfruit 24
2.3.4 Utilization of African breadfruit 25
2.4 Sensory
Evaluation of Food Product 26
2.5
Composite Flour in Snacks
Production 27
2.6 Theoretical
Framework 28
2.7
Review of Related Empirical Studies 29
2.8 Summary of REVIEWED literature 38
CHAPTER
3: MATERIALS AND METHODS 39
3.1 Design of the Study 39
3.2 Area of the Study 39
3.3 Instrument for Data Collection 40
3.4 Validation of the Instrument 40
3.5 Source of Raw Materials 40
3.6 Processing of Raw Materials 41
3.7 Sample Formulation 43
3.8 Determination of Proximate Composition 50
3.8.1 Determination of moisture content 50
3.8.2 Determination of Ash content 51
3.8.3 Determination of crude protein 51
3.8.4 Determination of fat content 52
3.8.5 Determination of crude fiber 53
3.8.6 Determination of carbohydrate 54
3.9 Sensory Evaluation 55
3.10 Statistical Analysis 56
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS
AND DISCUSSIONS 57
4.1 Results 57
4.2 Discussion of Findings 61
CHAPTER
5: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS 68
5.1
Summary 68
5.2
Conclusion 69
5.3 Recommendations
70
5.4 Contribution
to Knowledge 71
5.5 Suggestion
for Further Studies 71
REFERENCES 72
APPENDIX 81
LIST OF
TABLES
3.1 Sample
formulation 43
3.2: Sample
formulation for Queen Cake 44
3.3: Sample
formulation for meat pie 46
4.1: Proximate
composition of breadfruit and sweet potato flour
57
4.2: Proximate
composite of the breadfruit and sweet potato
flours blends 58
4.3 Sensory
characteristics of meat pie produced from composite flour 59
4.4: Sensory
characteristics of queen cake produce from composite
flour 60
LIST
OF FIGURES
2.1: Schematic representation of
conceptual framework 11
3.2 Flow
chart for the production of sweet potato
(Ipomea batatas) flour 41
3.3:
Flow chart for the production of
African breadfruit
(Treculia africana ) flour 42
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
High cost of food prices in Nigeria has
contributed to the economic impact of the COVID 19 pandemic and food
insecurity. Extreme hunger and malnutrition remain a big challenge in
developing countries including Nigeria. After a steady decline over a decade,
global hunger is on the rise again, affecting about 11% of the global
population in 2016 (FAO, 2017). In order to end hunger, there is need for an
adequate consumption of energy and nutrients.
Achieving a healthy diet requires a food
based approach to enhancing diet and nourishing individuals. Despite the hike
in our staple foods, households still rely on a few crops for their
nourishment. People are experiencing abject poverty, an increase in prevalence
of hunger and malnutrition, if we
continue to with our current production and consumption pattern, we are
unlikely to achieve the UN Sustainable development goal (SDG) of zero hunger by
2030 ( FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, WHO, 2020). Adoption of a diversified healthy
diet, with emphasis on readily available and affordable nutrient- rich plant
based foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and root and
tuber crops can contribute to sustainable food and nutrition security (EAT-
Lancet Commission, 2019, FAO et al.,
2020).
Sweet potato (Ipomea batatas) is an important economic crop in many countries
including Nigeria. Sweet potato ranks the fifth world’s most important food
crops in the tropics and the seventh in the world food production after Wheat,
Rice, Maize, Sorghum, Barley and Cassava (FAO, 2016). Sweet potato meets a
number of basic roles in the global food system, all of which have fundamental
implications for meeting food requirements, reducing poverty and increasing
food security (El- sheikh and Ray, 2017). Sweet potatoes are very good sources
of not only carbohydrates but also vitamin A, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, vitamin
C, vitamin E, zinc, iron, potassium, magnesium calcium, carbohydrates, protein
carotenoid and dietary fiber (El-sheikha and Ray, 2017).
They have been regarded as an anti- diabetic
food that can be used in diet therapy for diabetes mellitus to control blood
sugar level (Sani and Abdullah, 2014). Sweet potato is a starchy root crop which can
be referred to as a “3 – in 1” product due to its integration of the qualities
of cereals (high starch), fruits (high vitamin and pectin content) and
vegetables (high vitamin and mineral content) (Amaglon, Yada, Tumuhimbise,
Amagloh and Kaaya, 2021). The skin is usually brown, beige, red or purple,
while the flesh color may be white, cream, yellow, orange or purple (Mohanraj,
2018). Sweet potato is drought tolerant once established, it therefore has the
potential of enhancing food and nutrition security in the mostly rain- fed
agriculture in the developing world, where droughts could severely affect
yields of other staples such as cereals (Mosta, Modi and Mabhaudi, 2015). It is
on this note that the research decides to incorporate sweet potatoes in snack
product especially in families that has opportunity to cultivate potatoes.
African breadfruit (Triculia africana) is a member of the moraceae family and is a
native of the East Indies. African breadfruit is a large tree which grows in
wet and forest areas of tropical Africa (Nnorom, Ewuzie, Ogbuagu Okereke, Agwu
and Enyinnaya, 2015). African breadfruit is high in carbohydrates and contains
a good quantity of protein, minerals, vitamins and fibre (Arinda and Akingbala,
2018). The seed of African breadfruit is gotten after macerating the fruit in
water and it is being cooked locally in water with or without other ingredients
(porage breadfruit). It can be roasted or fried. The seeds are also being dried
and processed into flour known as breadfruit flour, which can be used to produce
variety of baked foods. The seeds can
also serve as a substitute for other diets in the rural areas in south eastern
Nigeria, whose meals are more of cereals grains, starchy root and tuber crops
(Edima- nyah, Ojimelukwe and Nwabueze, 2019).
The crop constitutes a strategic reserve of
essential food nutrients that are available at certain critical period of the
year when common sources of other food nutrients are short in supply or out of
season. African breadfruit is rich in vegetable oil (10%), protein (17%) and carbohydrates
(40%), as well as several minerals and vitamins (Edima-Nyah et al., 2019). Improving the food
applications for sweet potato and African breadfruit will increase its
diversification and utilization; however their nutritional quality and sensory
attributes need to be determined. There are numbers of factors that determine
consumer acceptance, the most important factor that deserves significant
evaluation is the sensory experience that consumers have with the food.
Sensory evaluation measures analysis and
interpretations of the reactions of people to products as perceived by the
senses. It is a way of determining whether product differences are perceived,
the basis for the differences and whether one product is preferred than another
(Stone, Bleibaum and Thomas, 2012). Sensory evaluation comprises a set of
techniques for accurate measurement of human responses to foods and minimizes
the potentially biasing effects of brand identity and other information
influences on consumer perception (Heymann and Lawless, 2013). Sensory
evaluation plays multiple roles in predicting consumer acceptance of food
products as this is not only influenced by the product’s sensory
characteristics but also by person related factors. An easier method to assess
acceptability is through hedonic scales where the participants indicate how
much they like or dislike the sample in terms of a specific sensory property
such as appearance. Flavor, taste and texture and can also include overall
acceptance. The most common used scale is the 9- point hedonic scale that
ranges from like extremely to dislike extremely (Lawless and Heymann, 2010).
One way of achieving optimal utilization and
diversification of local food products is through adequate consumption of
snacks from local food crops such as sweet potato and African breadfruit. The
demand for healthy, sustainable and nutritious snacks options has increased
recently. Snacks are important foods which come in different varieties
including packaged snack foods and other processed food as well as items made
from fresh ingredients at home, it is a portion of food, smaller than a regular
meal, generally eaten between meals (Folorunso, Habeeb and Ajayi, 2019). Snacks
are being referred to as “junck foods” due to their low nutritive value.
However, in recent times, snacks are being fortified so as to provide consumer
with food products that provides the much needed nutrients. The consumption of
snacks by household members are increasing everyday due to the lesser time
people have to cook regular foods before they go out for their daily activities
and convenience stores with packaged snacks foods are now a significant
business. Processed snack foods are typically designed to be perishable, more
durable and portable than prepared foods, they often contain greater amount of
sweeteners, specially designed flavors which often results in overweight or
obesity when consumed often (Moyinwin, 2015). Although several research have
been done using local food crops in snack production, this study will
investigate the nutritional composition and sensory evaluation of the
combination of sweet potato and African breadfruit flour to produce two
different snacks (queen cake and meat pie).
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Achieving food security is a major way to
realizing the second sustainable development goals (SDGs) that are concerned
with reducing the proportion of people who suffer from hunger to zero by 2030.
Neglected and underutilized crops may play a role in addressing hunger.
Breadfruit is a long lived tree crop that is a priority crop. The adoption of
these locally available food materials such as sweet potato and breadfruit
flour in bakery industry will increase utilization of local crops cultivated in
Nigeria and also reduce the high cost of bakery products.
In order to enhance food security and conserve
foreign exchange, there is need to utilize locally available food materials
within our locality and environs, this will help reduce the amount of money used
to import wheat in Nigeria yearly. Huge sum of money is being spent on wheat
importation by Nigerian government because Nigerian grown wheat is not enough
to meet the demand, so the baking and other allied ingredients depend mainly on
imported premium wheat to function effectively (Ugwuanyi, 2017). However, too
many research have been done by different authors and organizations to explore
partial or total substitution for wheat flour in bakery products, the outcome
is varying qualities of snacks developed from crops like, yam, cassava,
cocoyam, maize, rice, among. It is on this basis that the research seeks to
produce snacks (queen cake and meat pie) from sweet potato and African
breadfruit composite flour.
1.3 PURPOSE OF
THE STUDY
The main purpose of
this research was to determine the proximate and sensory evaluation of
different snacks enriched with sweet potatoes and African breadfruit flour
blends.
Specifically, the
study;
1.
Produced composite flour using sweet potatoes and African breadfruit
flour
2.
Produced snacks (queen cake and meat pie) from the composite flour
blends
3.
Determined the proximate composition of the flour blends
4.
Determined the level of acceptance of snack products from sweet potato
and African breadfruit composite flours
,1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The research
questions that guided this study were stated as follows:
1.
How can composite flour be produced using sweet potatoes and African
breadfruit?
2.
What is the proximate composition of the flour produced from sweet
potato and African breadfruit flour?
3.
What is the proximate composition of the composite flour blends?
4.
What are the acceptability levels of snack products from sweet potatoes
and African breadfruit flour?
1.5 HYPOTHESES:
The following
hypotheses were be tested at 0.05 level of significance.
H01: There is no significant difference in the
proximate composition of snack products produced from sweet potatoes and
African breadfruit and that of wheat flour.
H02: There is no significant difference in the
acceptability level of the snacks produced from composite flour of sweet
potatoes and African breadfruit and that produced from wheat flour.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE STUDY
The finding of this study revealed the
potential of using sweet potatoes and African breadfruit flour as composite in
production of queen cake and other baking products. Home Makers, Health
Workers, Farmers, and Nigerian Government will benefit from this study.
The results from this work will be of great
help to home makers as they have a great influence on the families feeding
pattern. This is for the fact that, they will diversify the preparation of
local foods to encourage its consumption since they have great influence over the
families feeding pattern.
Health workers like doctors, nurses,
dieticians among others will be enlightened with the knowledge on the health
benefits of this local crops and a nutrition advocacy can be done at the
clinics through health talk, and seminars.
Farmers will benefit
from this study if the government can assist by helping young farmers to
establish large scale farming where local crops like sweet potatoes and African
breadfruit will be cultivated and processed into composite flour. This will
increase utilization, good income generation and a sustainable living.
The finding of this
research may be useful to Nigerian government as this will help to reduce
importation of wheat flour thereby reducing high demand for foreign exchange.
It will also assist policy makers to implement policies that will better the
life of its citizens as regards to food security. More foreign exchange will be
conserved on the importation of wheat.
1.7 SCOPE OF
THE STUDY
The white sweet potato and African breadfruit
were the only variety used in this study. The development of composite flour
and preparation of the samples was done at the Food Science Laboratory, Home
Science Department, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike. The
composite flour and snack products (Queen Cake, and Meat-pie) produced in
different ratios were analyzed for, proximate composition. The snack products
sensory evaluation score sheets were completed by 20 home makers in home
science Department of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, Ikwuano
L.G.A, Abia State.
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