Gari and foofoo (fermented cassava foods) were purchased in the Freetown markets of Sierra Leone and analysed for factors associated with quality. Sellers were generally knowledgable about the source of the products which all originated from the country areas outside Freetown. The mean cyanide contents were higher (8.6 mg kg-' DM for gari and 28.2 mg kg-' DM for foofoo) than the amounts suggested by the Codex specification and, because of the distribution of the values around the mean, some samples necessarily contained unacceptable amounts of cyanide. Cyanogens were present as the cyanohydrin or as free cyanide; no glucoside was detected. Microbiological analysis of the samples showed high counts for total organisms, fungi and Enterobacteriaceae ( lo6-lo7 g-'). The mean water content of gari was 119 g kg-' which falls within the recommended limit of 120 g kg-' but again, due to the distribution of values around the mean, some samples had considerably higher water contents than that limit. Titratable acidity and pH were measured and the mean pH values were 4.18 for foofoo and 4.55 for gari. The particle size and swelling power of gari samples were also measured as these relate to consumer acceptance. The data show the quality of current cassava foods marketed in a major urban centre in Sierra Leone. As centralised processing develops, improvements can be. made to those quality parameters which have been identified as important.

The preparation and distribution of foofoo comprises several stages, namely soaking, dewatering and storage prior to sale. The effects of four different time/temperature soaking processes on the quality of foofoo (pH, microbial load, residual cyanogens) were determined. The processes were chosen as they gave roughly equivalent degrees of retting (the softening of cassava during soaking) by which the progress of the initial fermentation is normally judged. Instrumental measurement of cassava hardness confirmed that the processes were equivalent within experimental limits. The four soaking processes had no significant effect on the water content of foofoo, nor did this change during storage. Processing did affect the pH, total titratable acidity and microbial profiles. Analysis of the aqueous extracts from the processes showed that the glucose present in the fresh cassava was fermented into a mixture of acetic, butyric, isobutyric and lactic acids with some ethanol. The lowering of the pH reduced the number of Enterobacteriaceae to the limit of detection and also affected the types of microbe present. The different processes also affected the removal of cyanogens from the product and the processes at 20°C and 35°C led to unacceptable levels of cyanogens (mainly cyanohydrin) in foofoo.