European Journal of Nutrition & Food Safety

Objective: Stability of critical parameters of a food product is very essential as regards to its shelf-life. Therefore, this study evaluated the storage stability of selected physicochemical properties (total carotenoids, vitamin C, moisture content, reconstitution index and viscosity) of African locust bean fruit pulp.

Method: Matured ripened African locust bean pods were harvested, opened, the outer brown cover and the seeds removed and the yellow pulp dried at 60⁰C for 9 h. The dried pulp was milled, sieved and the resultant flour packaged in an air tight metal container and stored at room temperature (29±1⁰C). One hundred (100 g) grams of the sample was taken for analysis and designated sample A (0 day), a similar sample was drawn for analysis after 14 days and designated sample B, the third, fourth and fifth samples were drawn after 28, 42 and 56 days and were designated samples C, D and E respectively. Analyses were carried out on the drawn samples, data collected subjected to one way analysis of variance and significance accepted at 5 % probability level (p<0.05).

Result: The results of the analyses showed the range of total carotenoid content to be 48855 -48860 µg/100g, vitamin C 199.42 mg/100g - 200.20 mg/100g, moisture content 8.28 - 8.32 %, reconstitution index 9.66 - 9.72 ml/g and viscosity 4164 - 4166 cP. The overall results showed no significant differences (p>0.05).

Conclusion: The stability of carotenoids and vitamin C suggests potential use of the pulp in shelf stable complementary foods to combat micronutrient deficiencies in sub-Saharan Africa. I recommend that research on its application in nutraceutical industries and in the formulation of complementary foods be carried out.