Chemical composition, sensory and microbial analysis of yoghurt-like product from breadfruit, coconut and soybean extract

Abstract

Yoghurt, a dairy product with established nutritional and health benefits. However, food security coupled with high cost of animal milk and its products has prompted the need for the use of plant milk, hence the need for alternative products. This research is aimed at investigating the chemical, microbial and sensory attributes of yoghurt-like products made from breadfruit (B), coconut (C), and soybean (S) extract in the ratio: B20:C20:S60, B20:C30:S50, B30:C20:S50 and B30:C30:S40 fermented with Lactobacillus acidophilus using standard methods. The percentage proximate composition of the yoghurt-like product revealed the following ranges for moisture (70.06+0.01 to 78.02+0.11), crude protein (11.08+1.32 to 20.87+0.02), crude fat (2.01+0.31 to 3.01+0.31), crude fiber (4.37+0.03 to 6.01+0.16) and carbohydrate (3.10+0.02 to 5.51+0.03). There was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the protein values of B20: C20: S60 when compared with the commercial (100%) cow milk yoghurt. All the yoghurt-like products contained appreciable ranges of essential minerals, namely: Ca (30.02+0.05 to 40.31+0.03), Mg (1.22+0.22 to 11.2+ 36), Na (2.80±0.12 to 12.38+0.03) and P (5.15+0.62 to 20.02+ 0.52). The microbial results under refrigeration temperature at 4oC showed that the microbial load increases with the blend with high percentage of breadfruit. The sensory attributes of the yoghurt-like products composed of B20:C30:S50 was rated closest to the control (100% cow milk yoghurt). The results obtained from this research has shown that its feasible to produce non-dairy yoghurt derived from blend of breadfruit, coconut, and soybean extract of comparable nutritional and health benefits with the whole milk yoghurt.