Shelf Life Improvement Of Sorghum Beer(Pito) Through Pasteurization And The Addition Of Moringa Oleifera

ABSTRACT 

Pito is a traditional alcoholic beverage that is mostly brewed in the three northern regions of Ghana. Although widely consumed and used during many festivities, poor shelf-life limits its economic potential as an income generating venture for most women. The study was carried out to improve the shelf life through the addition of Moringa oleifera leaf extract and pasteurization. The study was in two phases, that is, the extract level testing phase and the storage phase. The former was carried out to ascertain suitable concentration of moringa extract that could be added to the pito, and the latter was to investigate storage effect of the treatments: untreated pito, pasteurized pito, moringa pito and pasteurized moringa pito, on microbial (fungi and coliform growth), physical (pH, sugar and alcohol levels), proximate (moisture, crude protein, crude fat, ash, carbohydrate, and energy levels) and consumer acceptability. The extract level testing phase revealed that pito treated with 25% moringa extract was suitable for the storage phase. The treated pito samples: pasteurized pito, moringa pito and pasteurized moringa pito showed significantly (P < 0.05), higher values in pH (3.54 - 3.17), sugar (7 - 5.2%) and alcohol content (3.93 - 2.10% alcohol by volume), and also low fungal (2.1 x 106-2.0x104 cfu/ml) and coliform (7.0x 105 - 8.0x 104 cfu/ml) growth than the untreated pito during storage. The pasteurized pito and pasteurized moringa pito had no significant change in fungal and coliform growth. The untreated pito had pH of 3.28 - 3.16; sugar 7 - 4.5%; alcohol content 3.93 - 1.76% alcohol by volume; fungi growth 3.7 x106- 4.6 x105 cfir/ml and coliform growth of 4.0x106 - 1.5x105 cfu/ml during storage. The pito samples with moringa extracts had significantly (P < 0.05) high crude protein of 0.029 g/100 g and crude fat of 0.2 g/100 g. There was high consumer acceptability of pasteurized pito when stored for 4 weeks. However, the moringa treated pito was less acceptable to consumers during storage. The untreated pito was also acceptable up to a period of 1 week. Based on the findings of this research it can be concluded that pasteurization (75-80 °C) and/or the addition of Moringa oleifera leaf extract can help increase the shelf-life of pito to 4 weeks. However, pito with moringa extract was not acceptable to consumers. Additional research is suggested on other antimicrobial plants since it is proven that consumers did not like pito with the Moringa oleifera leaf extract.