A preliminary study on the quality and safety of street-vended warankasi (a Nigerian soft white cheese) from Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the quality and safety of street-vended warankasi, a Nigerian soft white cheese. Design/methodology/approach A total of 80 samples were collected in two batches of 40 samples each in January and June, 2015 from eight major markets from Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. The samples were analyzed for the proximate components, quality indices (total soluble nitrogen, TSN and volatile fatty acid, VFA), and for the presence of pathogenic bacteria, Campylobacter jejuni (CJ), Listeria monocytogenes (LM), Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MT), Salmonella spp. (SS), Escherichia coli (EC), and Yersinia enterocolitica (YE), and heavy metals such as (lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), and chromium (Cr) concentrations. Findings The results revealed that the values of moisture, protein, fat, crude fiber, and ash contents (%) of warankasi samples were in the range 46.26±1.41-51.24±1.61, 33.92±1.18-37.26±1.42, 6.74±0.64-8.33±0.96, 1.27±0.02-1.73±0.09, 1.31±0.03-1.78±0.08, respectively. The values of TSN (mgN/kg) and VFA (%) were in the range of 1.19+0.10-2.54+0.18, and 5.79+0.19-9.12+0.30, respectively. The results further revealed the presence of CJ and SS and the absence of LM, MT, EC, and YE from the warankasi samples. Heavy metals detected in all the warankasi samples were generally below the maximum acceptable limits set by the World Health Organization for Pb (0.3 ppm), Cd (0.2 ppm), Hg (0.2 ppm), and Cr (0.5 ppm) with the exemption of samples from Iwo Road and Ojoo which were higher than other samples. Research limitations/implications This research work was conducted between January and June, 2015 and better results could be obtained if the study had been done for a longer period of time. Practical implications The paper helps in showing the quality and microbial safety of street-vended warankasi and this may bring imperative information and general consciousness on the microbiological safety of warankasi. Originality/value Much has been done concerning warankasi processing but little work has been done concerning street-vended warankasi. Therefore, this study was carried out to assess it.

Microbiological safety of ready‐to‐eat foods in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A comprehensive 10‐year (2009 to 2018) review

“…RTEs can be processed from single or mixed raw ingredients, such as cereals, fish, meat, nuts, and spices, into foods that may be liquid, semi‐solid, or solid in consistency (Adebayo‐Oyetoro et al., ; Ceyhun Sezgin & Sanher, ; Feglo & Sakyi, ). Based on the type of processing technique and packaging material, RTEs could range from traditionally processed foods such as chaat in India (Agrawal, Gupta, & Varma, ), matoke in Uganda (Bardi et al., ), and warankasi in Nigeria (Adeyeye, ) to industrially processed foods such as bread, biscuits, canned sardine, ice cream, and pizza. Depending on the type, RTEs can be consumed by different groups of people ranging from children to adults.…”

Effect of natural fermentation on nutritional composition and anti-nutrients in soy-wara (a Nigerian fried soy-cheese)

“…It is becoming an important traditional food in Nigeria because of its good nutrition and digestibility (Tsai et al, 1981;Adeyeye et al, 2017). The non-availability of cow milk coupled with high availability and the cheapness of soybeans in Nigeria as well as other benefits of soybeans to human health have recently increased interest in eating soya-wara, an analogue of warankasi from cow milk well known in Nigeria (Adeyeye, 2017).…”

“…Soy-wara (Tofu) is a salt-or acid-coagulated waterbased gel, with soy lipids and proteins trapped in its gel networks (Kohyma et al, 1995;Adeyeye, 2017). This could be used as an inexpensive milk and meat substitutes.…”

“…This could be used as an inexpensive milk and meat substitutes. Soy-wara is cholesterol-free, a rich source of proteins, minerals and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (Adeyeye, 2017). Therefore, soy-wara can form an alternative protein source, which is higher than soybean (on dry body weight) (Akinola et al, 2014;Adeyeye, 2017).…”

Natural food colouring with dye sorghum leaf sheaths

“…O157:H7 cocktail. Previous studies investigating the quality and the safety of West African soft cheese, highlighted that E. coli and L. monocytogenes are the most relevant foodborne pathogens of this dairy productAdetunji & Arigbede, 2011), with a lower prevalence for L. monocytogenes as compared to E. coli(Omemu et al, 2014; Saliu et al, 2014;Adeyeye & Adeyeye, 2017). Therefore we focussed on E. coli 157:H7 in the application study on wagashi.…”