In conclusion, there was a low intake of dietary iron among adolescent girls. Nutrition education should be intensified among female adolescents to improve their nutritional knowledge.

No abstract

No abstract

Environmental conditions and hygiene practices under which foods are prepared and served for public consumption are a matter of concern. The study was conducted to investigate the impact of training of food providers on environmental conditions of food service outlets (FSO) in and around a university community in Southwestern Nigeria. Structured questionnaire and “Spot Check Observation” (SCO) were used to assess the hygiene practices and environmental condition of the FSO respectively. Sixteen (16) High Density Food Service Outlets (HDFSO) and twelve (12) Low Density Food Service Outlets (LDFSO) were investigated. From the findings, mean score of SCO for HDFSO was low (2.93 ± 0.09) compared to LDFSO (4.32 ± 0.56) (p = 0.014). There were significant differences in source of cooking water (p = 0.003), solid waste disposal method (p = 0.031), liquid waste disposal method (p = 0.023) and toilet facilities (p = 0.001) between HDFSO and LDFSO. Significant differences existed in the environmental hygiene between HDFSO and LDFSO (p < 0.05). A significant relationship existed between educational level (r = 0.789, p = 0.038), age (r = 0.631, p = 0.045), income (r = 0.623, p = 0.004) of food service providers and environmental condition. Service providers that were >40 years of age were more likely to score high in SCO in HDFSO than the other age groups (OR = 1.80, 95%CI = 1.21, 2.68). Those with tertiary education were twice more likely to score high in SCO compared to those with lower educational qualifications in LDFSO (OR = 2.03, 95%CI = 1.48 2.78). Those who earned above ?40,000.00 were more likely to have higher SCO among both categories. A 3-day food safety workshop was organized among both groups at different times, three months later, SCO was conducted and scores improved greatly. Constant training of food service providers is important to improving the environmental condition of food service outlets in high-density urban areas in order to ensure food safety

Amaranth is a commonly consumed vegetable in households in Southwestern Nigeria. Raw amaranth is known to be rich in micronutrients particularly Iron and Vitamin C, which are lost during cooking due to the method of preparation. Hence, this study was conducted to determine the method of preparation that best retains nutrients. Three common methods of preparing amaranth were identified; method 1 in which no heat was applied but amaranth leaves were finely chopped (samples A), method 2 which was steaming before chopping the leaves (sample B) and method 3 involved chopping of leaves before blanching (sample C). These three samples were subjected to proximate analysis and micronutrient determinations. Results were mean of three determinations. Result of proximate analysis showed that sample B method of preparation has highest percentage of crude fat per gram of sample (2.31 ± 0.45), protein (4.35 ± 0.15) and fibre (1.09 ± 0.06). Sample A has highest percentage of moisture (90.35 ± 0.27) and ash content (1.36 ± 0.28) while sample C has highest percentage per gram of sample in carbohydrate (4.89 ± 1.21) only. Micronutrient determination results showed that sample A was highest in Vitamin C (1.57 mg ± 0.06) and Iron (535.84 ppm ± 123.42), followed by sample C (1.21 ± 0.07) and (501.88 ± 215.19) respectively while sample B had the least vitamin C (0.79 ± 0.06) and Iron (354.18 ± 121.84). The study showed that samples A best retained the nutrient contents of Amaranth leaves after preparation