by Olarinre Abiola Adebunmi, Oladeebo Job Olatunji and Olarinde Luke O.
Original Research
The effects of land management practices on food insecurity in Osun State, Nigeria was analysed through multi-stage random sampling technique by selecting two hundred and sixteen respondents and the data was collected with the means of well-structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, food security Index, fractional Logit Model and Logit Regression Model. Descriptive analysis showed that, the mean age of the respondents was 43.9 years. Farming is the major occupation of the respondents (85.19 percent). All the 216 respondents adopted more than one land management practices. The result of food security index showed that 31.02 percent of the farmers in the study area are not food secured and 68.98 percent are food secured. It was discovered that the use of land management practices have a positive relationship with food security, and the more farmers engaged in the practices, the more food secured they were. It is therefore recommended that there should be increased awareness about land management practices and since majority of the farmers rely on the use of fertilizer for production, government should subsidize the price of fertilizer and ensure it gets to the users at the right time.
Journal of Food Security. 2019, 7(3), 97-102. DOI: 10.12691/jfs-7-3-5
Pub. Date: July 29, 2019
7660 Views1656 Downloads
by Joyce Duah, Jacob K. Agbenorhevi, David Adu-Poku and Francis O. Antwi
Original Research
Sodium and potassium salts of nitrite are used in meat products as preservative, antioxidant and colour fixative. However, high levels of these chemicals pose risks such as toxicity due to the formation of nitroso compounds originated from nitrite sources. The present study was conducted to assess the nitrite residual levels and to evaluate the health risk of consumers from exposure of nitrite in commonly consumed processed meat products (sausage, corned beef and bacon) on the Ghanaian market. A total of 300 questionnaires were administered to various age groups in the study population in the Ayawaso West Sub Metro, Accra. Participants were made to fill out the 24 h food frequency questionnaire. Fifty (50) different types and brands of processed meat products were randomly selected and analyzed for nitrite residues by spectrophotometric method. The effect of boiling, frying and grilling as cooking methods commonly employed were investigated. The mean nitrite content in the samples was 139.85 mg/kg and the mean daily intake estimated at 114.89 mg/kg/day. Significantly, the nitrite levels found in this study was higher than the WHO/EU recommended levels of 125 mg/kg in processed meat. First order Monte Carlo simulation at 10,000 iterations estimated chronic daily intake of nitrite as 5.05 mg/kg/day. Subsequently, the average risk of consumption of processed meat within the limits of reference dose of nitrite (0.33 mg/Bw/day) for the studied population was estimated at 15.65 (>>1) indicating of adverse health effect to the consumers. Overall, boiling was safer cooking method for cured meat and sausages found on the Ghanaian market.
Journal of Food Security. 2019, 7(3), 90-96. DOI: 10.12691/jfs-7-3-4
Pub. Date: July 24, 2019
6689 Views1028 Downloads1 Likes
by Pauline Aissaioulè Millogo-Dah, Fulbert Nikièma, Hama Cissé, Asseto Somda, Abdou Azize W. Ouédraogo, Abel Tankoano, Namwin Siourimè Somda, Hagrétou Sawadogo-Lingani and Aly Savadogo
Original Research
This study was carried out to evaluate food safety management in 30 units of artisanal and semi-industrial dairies in Ouagadougou. A total of 257 samples from raw materials, production water, equipment washing water, rinsing water, hand surfaces, tables, utensils and finished products were collected all along the process, between February 2017 and November 2018. Microbiological analysis were realized according to standard methods described in the manual of microbiological analysis of AFNOR. The results showed a non-compliance of final products in 70% of dairies. 83.3% of the raw materials were of unsatisfying quality. The maximum of non-compliances was found at the labor force and method used levels. The surfaces and rinsing waters of the equipment were nonconforming in 91.1% and 76.7% of the dairies. They were also identified as a major source of contamination by microbiological contaminants. Production water and ferments were respectively 56.7% and 58.2% of the cases and was identified as a minor source of contamination. The low level of quality is related to the high load of total mesophilic aerobic flora and total coliforms. Quality monitoring in artisanal units focused on the mastering of washing methods, disinfection and manufacturing methods by government competent services is necessary to improve the quality of dairy products in Burkina Faso.
Journal of Food Security. 2019, 7(3), 80-89. DOI: 10.12691/jfs-7-3-3
Pub. Date: July 21, 2019
13896 Views877 Downloads
by Francis Ebai Ndip, Ernest L. Molua, Godlove Shu and Marlene Francine Mbiafeu
Original Research
Cameroon’s economy is on average agrarian. However, this subsector is plagued by a myriad of challenges with the most prominent one being that of misallocation of scarce resources. This study seeks to establish farm plans that will help food crop farmers efficiently allocate resources and maximise farm returns. Primary data was drawn from 60 farmers in Muyuka subdivision of the Southwest region of Cameroon. Six different food crop combinations were identified. Linear programming was used to formulate the farm problems with land, labour and capital being the constraints. The simplex algorithm, using the LINDO software was used to optimise the various combinations. In the various combinations only one was found to be the optimum combination. This combination includes maize and cassava enterprises. With this combination gross margin is optimized at 370,590 FCFA (US$ 617.65). This leads to an increase of 74,040 FCFA (US$ 123.4) from a non-optimal farm plan. Land and labour were found to be limiting constraints with shadow prices of 280,633 FCFA (US$ 467.7) and 468.5 FCFA (US$ 0.78) respectively. Capital on its part was binding with an associated unused capacity of 29,848.7 FCFA (US$ 49.7). It is recommended that farmers employ prudent method of resource allocation for optimal benefits.
Journal of Food Security. 2019, 7(3), 72-79. DOI: 10.12691/jfs-7-3-2
Pub. Date: July 10, 2019
6269 Views1416 Downloads
by Irène Ahou Kouadio, Louis Koffi Ban and Mireille Bretin Dosso
Original Research
This study was aimed to find out an alternative to synthetic fungicides used in the control of fungi development in crops including coffee. The antifungal was extracted from green berries of Solanum indicum L. and its effect on the behavior of three Aspergillusspecies Ochratoxin A (OTA) producers (Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus carbonarius and Aspergillus ochraceus) was evaluated on a coffee-agar medium. The results show a reduction of growth with the increase of the antifungal content in the medium. Indeed, on the medium without antifungal, the growth rate has reached 90 mm within only 3 days of incubation for the three strains tested, while no growth was observed for A. niger and A.carbonarius from 8% of antifungal in the medium and for A. ochraceus, at 10% of antifungal in the medium even after 7 days of incubation. However, the total inhibition of OTA was observed from 8% of antifungal in the medium for these three strains of Aspergillus. Indeed, the amounts of OTA produced on the coffee-agar medium without antifungal were 0.005, 1.63 and 0.108 µg/mL respectively for A. niger, A. carbonarius and A. ochraceus, while from 8% of antifungal fraction in the medium, no detectable OTA amount was observed for the three strains tested after 7 days of incubation. The phytochemical screening of this antifungal fraction revealed compounds including flavonoids, carotenoids and saponins. These results suggest the use of this antifungal fraction as an alternative to synthetic fungicides for the control of fungi development and OTA production in coffee beans.
Journal of Food Security. 2019, 7(3), 63-71. DOI: 10.12691/jfs-7-3-1
Pub. Date: May 24, 2019
10611 Views1703 Downloads