Quality and safety assessment of sun dried meat product (kundi) from Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria

This study was carried out to assess the quality and safety assessment of sun dried meat product (kundi) from markets in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Sun dried meat (kundi) (50) samples were collected from ten major markets in Ibadan. The samples were analyzed for the proximate composition, rancidity indices and the presence of aflatoxigenic fungi and mycotoxins. The results revealed that the mean moisture, protein, fat, crude fiber, ash and carbohydrate contents (%) of fried fish samples ranged from 10.23 ± 0.11 to 12.63 ± 0.16, 61.98 ± 1.10 to 64.47 ± 1.68, 9.76 ± 0.10 to 12.27 ± 0.17, 0.92 ± 0.04 to 1.37 ± 0.09, 0.98 ± 0.02 to 1.76 ± 0.09 and 10.24 ± 0.12 to 13.94 ± 0.17 respectively. The values of PV (meq peroxide/kg), FFA (%), TBA (mg Mol/kg), TVB-N (mg N/kg) and trimethylamine value (mg N/kg) and were in the range of 17.23 ± 0.20–19.94 ± 0.33, 2.91 ± 0.13–3.90 ± 0.20, 2.07 ± 0.11–2.96 ± 0.19, 15.97 ± 0.21–18.74 ± 0.30 and 1.93 ± 0.10–2.91 ± 0.19. A total of nine fungal strains including: Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Aspergilus tamarri, Fusarium compacticum, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium sacchari, Penicillium chrysogenum, Penicillium citrinin and Penicillium oxalicum were isolated from the samples. All the samples were contaminated with aflatoxin and majority were contaminated with deoxynivalenol (DON). The total aflatoxin and DON in the samples ranged from 1.39 ± 0.07 to 3.66 ± 0.18 ppb and 0.06 ± 0.02 to 0.39 ± 0.10 ppm. The levels of mycotoxins contamination were within the maximum permissible level of 20 ppb set for aflatoxin by USFDA. The presence of mycotoxigenic fungi and mycotoxin levels in the sun-dried meat (kundi) samples is of public health concern and proper attention is needed for the control of quality, adequate preservation and storage of the product before sales and consumption to prevent food poisoning