Quality and safety properties of street-vended beske (fried soy cake) in Ilorin metropolis

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Date

2017

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FUTA Journal of Research in Sciences

Abstract

Street food contamination is assumed to be inevitable by the nature of the trade, yet millions of people depend on this source of food. Beske is a fried coagulated soy-milk popularly consumed in Ilorin. In this study the quality and safety of street vended beske in Ilorin metropolis was investigated. Beske samples were collected from randomly selected vendors from six main areas of Ilorin, Kwara state in sterile containers and were taken to the laboratory for chemical analysis with the laboratory prepared sample. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain information on the safety measures practiced by the vendors. The results indicate that about 48% of them have toilet around their processing centers and used different inappropriate materials for packaging of beske. On sensory quality, the samples obtained from the vendors were preferred in taste than the laboratory prepared sample while a contrary result was obtained for general acceptability. The chemical analysis revealed that the protein content of the samples ranged between 28.80 and 31.27% while moisture content ranged from 18.82% to 39.80% indicating that the product is highly perishable. Free fatty acid (FFA) values of all the samples were very low ranging from 2.05% to 2.12%. The total viable count ranged between of 16 × 10-7 to 401 × 10-7cfu/g. Escherichia coli was not detected in all the samples which suggest non faecal contamination of the product. However, Staphylococcus aureus was detected with the count ranging from 5 × 10-7to 11 × 10-7 cfu/g above the acceptable level recommended for ready to eat foods. Therefore, it was recommended that the producers of street vended beske should improve on food safety and hygiene practices; proper packaging and handling should be practiced to avoid post production contamination

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Keywords

Quality, Safety, Ilorin

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