The Effect of Moringa Seeds Oil and Shea Butter Oil Waxing On the Post-Harvest Life of Tomato Fruit (Solanum lycopersicum) (Published)
Tomato belongs to the family, Solanaceae and the genus Lycopersicon, is considered as one of the best healthy foods in the world due to its rich source of vitamin B and phyto-nutrients and abundant in carotenoids and lycopene. There has not been alternative means of preservation asides refrigeration as fast ripening disorder sets in and reduce its shelf life as the level of its calcium and potassium reduces during these processes. Post-harvest waxing has proved to be the alternative means of extending its shelf life. Standard analytical methods were used to test for colour, hardness, ash content, moisture content, total solid, brix, pH and total titrable acidity for two single and eight composite waxing (shea butter and moringa) of tomato fruits from day one to seven respectively. Waxing helps to delay the effect of divalent cations, which played an essential role in pectin metabolism and result to tissue softening in the pericarp of tomato fruit during ripening. The result obtained indicated that single oil waxing at 100%MOT (100% moringa oil) yielded good result up to five days while composite oil waxing at 10:90MST (10%moringa and 90%shea butter) could retard the effect of divalent cations for ripening for four days than the rest of waxing in single and composite oil waxing respectively.
Keywords: Moringa oil, Shea butter oil, Shelf-Life, Tomato, waxing
Assessment of Locally Produced Waxing Materials on the Shelf Life and Quality of Tomato Fruits (Solanum lycopersicum) (Published)
The work was done to assess the effectiveness of locally produced waxing materials on the quality of tomato fruits. The experiment was performed in the Chemistry Laboratory of the Department of Food and Postharvest Technology, in the Koforidua Technical University. Materials that were used for the experiment is the Power Rano variety of tomato and four (4) waxing materials (shea butter, cassava starch, beeswax, and a combination of the three (shea butter + cassava starch + beeswax) and a control. Data on randomly selected fruits in each treatment per replication was recorded at four different days: 7, 14, 21 and 28 days of storage during the experiment. The following quality indices were measured: Weight loss (%), Total soluble solids (TSS), Total titrable acidity (TTA), and Shelf life of fruit. The data collected on the laboratory experiments and sensory evaluation were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and the means were separated using Duncan multiple range of test at 5%. Results from the work indicated that, treating tomato fruit with wax was effective in preserving the fruit. All waxing treatments delayed the development of weight loss, firmness, pH, total soluble solids, and total titrable acidity of fruits. It was concluded that edible wax coatings delayed the ripening process and colour development of tomato fruits during the storage period and extended the shelf life. However, it is recommended that there should be sensitization on the use of locally produced wax to extend the shelf life of tomato for consumers and further work should be done on the economics analysis of waxing tomatoes.
Keywords: Shelf-Life, Tomato, Weight Loss, total soluble solids, total titrable acidity, waxing
Microbial Population and Shelf Life Study of Spiced Water Melon Juice (Published)
The microbial quality of spiced watermelon juice and the effect of pasteurization on the juice were investigated. Watermelon juice samples were analyzed according to standard bacteriological methods. The present study indicated significant reduction in microbial activities in all the juice samples under review. However, the rate of decline in the samples was less in refrigerated samples as compared to that stored at ambient temperature. The result for aerobic mesophilic count for the different watermelon juice samples increased (unpasteurized) from 3.22 × 102 to 5.31 × 102 cfu/ml, while the pasteurized watermelon juice samples showed a decreased microbial load from 0.05 × 102 to 0.07 × 102 cfu/ml. Results pre and post pasteurization of the juices showed zero (0) count for mould and E.coli, while total coliform ranged from <3.0 × 102 to 9.0 × 102 for the pasteurized and unpasteurized samples (MPN Index). 0Brix for all the samples showed a decreasing trend, with the control (sample E) having the highest brix value. As storage progressed over a period of four week, brix values were higher at refrigerated temperature than at room temperature storage for all the samples. Refractive index decreased with storage at room temperature for all samples but remained relatively stable at refrigeration temperature. The pH of samples decreased with storage and time over a period of four weeks, with the spiced samples having lower pH values, while total titratable acidity (TTA) increased over the same period. The study revealed that the combined effect of spice, pasteurization and refrigeration positively affected the shelf life of the juice samples.
Keywords: Juice, Microbial Analysis, Shelf-Life, Water Melon
Ascertaining the Shelf-life of Ground Melon Seed (Cococynthis citrullus) (Published)
The shelf life of ground melon seed stored at room temperature was investigated. Melon seed at moisture content of 5.2% were ground and stored in an airtight plastic container. Physicochemical analysis such as free fatty acid, acid value, peroxide value, iodine value and moisture content were carried out on the ground melon seed oil for a period of 18 days at 2 day intervals. Also the sensory analysis of soup prepared from ground melon seed at each storage period was studied. The physicochemical properties results were significantly (p<0.05) different and showed that the free fatty acid content increased from 3.95% to 9.31%, acid value decreased from 1.88% to 1.12%, peroxide value increased from 12.30% to 16.40%, iodine value decreased from 57.70% to 26.70% and moisture content decreased from 5.2% to 1.6%. The sensory properties value showed no significant (p<0.05) difference between the 0 and 10th day of storage. There were virtually slight decrease in the sensory attributes, but all values were still with the acceptable limit (greater than 3 points) of the scale. Also there was no observable effect of changes in physicochemical properties on the sensory. It was concluded that, the shelf-life of ground melon seed used for soup was valid throughout the 18 day storage and ground melon seed used for other purposes such as edible oil might have a shelf-life of 2 days
Keywords: Ground melon seed, Shelf-Life, physicochemical properties and sensory properties., room temperature
Microbial Population and Shelf Life Study of Spiced Water Melon Juice (Published)
The microbial quality of spiced watermelon juice and the effect of pasteurization on the juice were investigated. Watermelon juice samples were analyzed according to standard bacteriological methods. The present study indicated significant reduction in microbial activities in all the juice samples under review. However, the rate of decline in the samples was less in refrigerated samples as compared to that stored at ambient temperature. The result for aerobic mesophilic count for the different watermelon juice samples increased (unpasteurized) from 3.22× 102 to 5.31 × 102 cfu/ml, while the pasteurized watermelon juice samples showed a decreased microbial load from 0.05 × 102 to 0.07 × 102 cfu/ml. Results pre and post pasteurization of the juices showed zero (0) count for mould and E.coli, while total coliform ranged from <3.0 × 102 to 9.0 × 102 for the pasteurized and unpasteurized samples (MPN Index). 0Brix for all the samples showed a decreasing trend, with the control (sample E) having the highest brix value. As storage progressed over a period of four week, brix values were higher at refrigerated temperature than at room temperature storage for all the samples. Refractive index decreased with storage at room temperature for all samples but remained relatively stable at refrigeration temperature. The pH of samples decreased with storage and time over a period of four weeks, with the spiced samples having lower pH values, while total titratable acidity (TTA) increased over the same period. The study revealed that the combined effect of spice, pasteurization and refrigeration positively affected the shelf life of the juice samples.
Keywords: Juice, Microbial Analysis, Shelf-Life, Water Melon