No abstract

-Materials used for food packaging today consists of a variety of petroleum-derived plastic polymer, metals, glass, paper and board, or combinations thereof. Among these packaging materials, plastic is found to be the best because of its long life properties. Thus, its utilization is increasing every day by day. However, plastics cannot be degraded by natural processes in a short period of time; therefore, they are left as plastic waste, causing environmental problems. Methods normally used to destroy other types of waste such as burning and burying are not suitable for plastic destruction. In response to these problems associated with plastic waste, there has been considerable interest in the development and production of biodegradable plastics. In this work, a biodegradable plastic film was produced by blending cassava starch and a synthetic biodegradable polymer (PVA). The film produced was found to have a biodegradability of 41.27% compared to 10.33% and 85.99% for polythene and paper respectively. The film also has a tensile strength of 24.87N/mm 2 compared to 10.86N/mm 2 and 8.29N/mm 2 for polythene and paper. The potential of producing biodegradable packaging plastic film from cassava starch is encouraging and should be further explored especially in a country with high cassava productivity, like Nigeria.

No abstract

This study evaluated moisture content determination procedures for pearl millet using seven different air oven methods. The moisture content of the pearl millet samples varied from 11-41% (wet basis). The procedures included 130°C for 1 h; 130°C for 2 h; 105°C for 5 h; 105°C for 48 h; 105°C for 72 h; 130°C for 16 h; and 130°C for 20 h. Analysis of variance revealed that at high moisture content levels above 27% (wet basis), and the mean values of the moisture content determined were not significantly different (p > 0.05). Error analysis carried out showed that the moisture content determination methods were adequate to completely remove the moisture in pearl millet with moisture less than 35% (wet basis). Regression models were developed to predict the base moisture determination method (105°C for 72 h) as a function of other procedures.

A culinary enhancer is a substance that enhances the flavor and other properties of soups, stews and foods. Normally in flour form, culinary enhancers are used to enhance the proximate composition, viscosity, flavor and some other rheological and functional properties of soups and convenience foods. Physical properties of culinary seeds are utilized in the development of their handling, storage and processing facilities. The unit operations in the process of converting culinary seeds into flour include handling or conveying, cleaning, drying, storage, cracking, and separation of chaffs and shells before milling of the kernels or endosperm into flour. The aim of this study was to determine some postharvest physical properties of four African culinary enhancers, namely Irvingia gabonensis ( Ogbono ), Detarium microcapum ( Ofor ), Mucuna pruriens ( Ukpo ) and Brachystegia eurycoma ( Achi ) seeds. Ogbono seed had the highest dimensions (Length, L = 3.91, Width, W = 3.13, Thickness, T = 2.34 cm, Geometric mean diameter, D g = 3.06, Arithmetic mean diameter, D a = 3.13 cm, Equivalent mean diameter, D e = 2.87 cm and Square mean diameter, D s = 1.02 cm), followed by Ukpo, Ofor and Achi seeds. The average sphericity, surface area and 1000-unit mass were 0.6, 25.61 cm 2 and 11130 g; 0.95, 13.24 cm 2 and 4019 g; 0.94, 17.79 cm 2 and 7720 g and 0.48, 3.11 cm 2 and 8960 g for Ogbono, Ofor, Ukpo and Achi seeds respectively. These properties are useful baseline data required for further research studies on rational development of handling and processing systems for the products. The seeds' dimensions, size, and shape will be useful in the design and development of their cleaning, sorting, and grading machines and in the analyses of their drying behavior. The seeds’ densities and porosity values will be used to develop their conveying and storage facilities. The angles of repose and coefficient of friction will be used to design their conveying chutes and hoppers of their cracking machines and storage facility outlets.