ABSTRACT Wagashie is a traditional West African cottage cheese produced by the Fulani who are seminomadic. It is a good protein source and can replace fish or meat in the diet of low income families in Africa. However, it is a product with high moisture content (60%) which is favourable for the growth of microorganisms and thus has a short shelf life of 3 days; it also has a bland taste with limited patronage. This research was therefore carried out to reengineer wagashie for a larger market ...
ABSTRACT Fish from artisanal sources constitute the most important animal protein in the Ghanaian diet. The availability and safety of fish on the Ghanaian market is however now unpredictable owing to potential rapid microbial growth which results from high ambient temperatures and poor handling along the artisanal value chains. Little is known about the artisanal fish value chains as well as the food safety knowledge and handling practices of key stakeholders involved. This study aimed at ma...
ABSTRACT Burkina is a milk/millet product which has suddenly become popular in Ghana in the last few years. The product is thought to have originated from Burkina Faso but Burkina is unknown in that country. Rather Degue, a Fulani fermented milk product containing millet is well known in West African Sahelian countries including Burkina Faso. This work was carried out to compare the burkina and Degue processes, and develop a starter culture for the production of Burkina/ Degue in Ghana. A sur...
ABSTRACT Incorporating orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) into gari could increase the nutritional value of gari. This work sought to improve the nutritional quality of gari by incorporating OFSP into the gari. Multivariate response surface was used for the optimization of the optimum amount of OFSP and the fermentation duration required in producing a good quality gari. The results showed that beta-carotene content increased with increasing fermentation duration and increasing OFSP percentag...
ABSTRACT The objectives of this study were to assess the consumption trends of grasscutter meat among consumers in Ga-West Municipality, to determine the thermal process parameters (cooking time and sterilization temperature, i.e F0 values) of canned minced grasscutter meat, to evaluate consumer acceptability of canned minced grasscutter meat and to assess the quality changes of canned minced grasscutter meat during storage. A cross sectional survey was conducted to establish the consumption ...
ABSTRACT The eating patterns of Ghanaians are changing due to urbanization, globalization, economic trends, as well as changes in social structure as a result of the increasing number of women working outside the home. These changes in eating patterns include higher consumption of snack foods by all age groups. A snack food is often smaller than a regular meal and normally consumed between meal times. Among cereal-based snacks, wheat and corn are the most popularly used cereals as compared to...
ABSTRACT A sociological and techno-economic survey of komi processing was carried out in the Accra-Tema metropolis. The results indicated that the Komi industry is essentially controlled by women in their prime of life having very little or no formal education. Men play a supportive role. Production is on small-scale and profit margin generally increases with increase in quantity of maize used per batch of komi. The industry is heavily dependent on household hands and locally fabricated and m...
ABSTRACT In this study, the effects of clay ingestion on iron status and other anaemia factors were investigated using rats. Rats were fed clay at the levels consumed by Ghanaians (weight for weight) who have clay pica habit. A total of 28 white stock weanling rats, aged 3 weeks, were fed experimental diet containing clay for 11 weeks, an equivalent of four years in humans on lifespan basis. The rats were randomly assigned to four different experimental diets containing different levels of cl...
ABSTRACT The process and product characteristics of the traditional palm kernel technology were studied. The study was in two phases. Firstly, a survey on the technology in some selected areas in the Eastern and Greater Accra regions was done, to collate information on processors, processing methods, equipment used, raw materials, marketing of products and some other aspects of the technology. Then the processing methods encountered were replicated in the laboratory and investigated to assess...
ABSTRACT The high utilization and consumption levels of maize in developing countries call for the investigation of new methods of processing to introduce variety as well as improve the functionality and nutrient quality of maize-based foods. This study was carried out to determine the effect of nixtamalization, fermentation and cowpea fortification on maize and to identify the dominant microflora in fermented nixtamalized maize. The effect of cooking and lime concentration was determined usi...
ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of women’s life circumstances on their health and nutritional status. The study included women of reproductive age (15 - 45 years old) and 74 women took part in the study. Study-specific semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect dietary, socioeconomic, demographic and workload data. Urinary and random blood glucose determinations were used to test for the prevalence of diabetes mellitus. The subjects had mean (± SD) ran...
ABSTRACT Fish sauce is a fermented fish product. It is a liquid extract of fish tissues produced by fermenting fish and/or fish processing by-products, sometimes mixed with a carbohydrate source, under a salt-saturated condition. It is typical of the oriental countries where it is consumed as a condiment. Analysis of a typical fish sauce suggests varying degree of hydrolysis of the proteins and other macromolecules of the fish, which are typical of microbial and enzymatic actions, although th...
ABSTRACT The post harvest management of pineapple quality is a problem that many Ghanaian pineapple exporters are grappling with. Importers pay premium only on top quality fruits that satisfy market and consumer expectation. An effective Quality Management Approach (QMA) which takes into consideration market demands and consumer expectation would be the key to making Ghanaian exports competitive on the world pineapple trade. In this study, glazing or surface coating of pineapple was employed ...
A BSTRA CT The consumer’s perception of quality has been identified as the benchmark for quality around which all processing and marketing activities must revolve in order to achieve maximum profitability in industry, hi spite of this awareness, the consumer’s perception o f quality is yet to be fully understood to enable manufacturers translate consumer needs and expectations into business success. A number o f factors account for this failure including the complexity, subjectivity and m...
ABSTRACT Solar dryers have become important components for the delivery of dried agricultural products of high quality. They generally are designed to maximize the production of a heating system based on solar radiation. This study involved the design, building and testing of a control system to allow the monitoring of temperature, solar radiations and control of humidity in a Photovoltaic (PV)- Greenhouse Solar Dryer (PVGSD). This was accomplished by assembling a solar charge controller, thr...