Effect of packaging materials on the shelflife of steamed pudding made from Bambara groundnut (<i>Voandzeia subterranean</i>)

Abstract

Background: Spoilage is not only causing major economic loses, but also inflicting significant harm to the natural resources that humanity relies upon to feed itself.

Objective: To assess the effect of various packaging materials on the shelf-life and to determine the total count and microbial species of steamed pudding made from Bambara groundnut.

Methods: Fresh bambara groundnut paste prepared from 300g of bambara flour with 900ml potable warm water and mixed thoroughly with palm oil, iodised salt and ground red pepper. The 150ml bambara slurry produced was poured into each of the various packaging materials: polythene, aluminium foil, plantain and banana leaves and were all steamed at 100^oC for 32 minutes using Aluminium pot on kerosene stove, cooled and stored for 3 days at ambient temperature (25-27oC). Samples stored without packaging material served as the control prior to microbiological assessment. Data obtained in the study were statistically analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The means were separated using Fisher’s Least Significant Difference.

Results: Microbiological analysis revealed that microbial load in control samples (85.21, 37.50) were significantly (p <0.05) higher than in samples in the various packaging materials, with samples wrapped in plantain (75.33, 25.00) and banana (72.34, 25.67) leaves showing significant (p <0.05) increase in microbial load compared to samples wrapped in polythene (36.67, 12.62) and aluminium foil (32.33, 11.00)

Conclusion: This study showed that aluminium foil had the best packaging property followed by polythene bag and least by leaves of banana and plantain.

Keywords: Shelflife, packaging, steamed bambara pudding, aluminium, polythene.