Production and Quality Evaluation of Dambu-Nama - A Nigerian Dried Meat Product

ABSTRACTThe quality attributes of dambu-nama, a dried Nigerian meat product were studied for sixteen (16) weeks comparing traditional products and packaging systems with a laboratory product and simple modern packaging. The most optimum processing time, viz cooking and steaming for 60, 90 and 120min respectively, was determined. The six resulting products were subjected to a 9-point hedonic scale and results showed that the product of cooking for 90min was the most adequate and acceptable in all organoleptic attributes by the sensory panellists. Process standardization was achieved by optimization of the cooking time and formulation of a standard ingredient mix. Proximate composition of the finished product showed that moisture ranged from 5.50% laboratory dambu-nama (LDBN) to 7.60% traditional dambu-nama (TDBN), protein from 46.51% (LDBN) to 39.19% (TDBN), Ash from 5.76% (LDBN) to 4.90% (TDBN), crude fibre from 0.015% (LDBN) to 0.72% (TDBN), crude fat from 15.65% (LDBN) to 24.94% (TDBN), and carbohydrate by difference of 26.54% (LDBN) to 22.64% (TDBN). The hydrogen ion concentration (pH), bulk density, Thiobarbituric acid (TBA), microbiological and sensory attributes of the product packed in low density polyethylene (LDPE), high density polyethyelene (HDPE), Aluminium foil (Af) and plastic containers (Pc) stored at 30±10°C were evaluated at 0, 3, 6, 9 and 16 weeks. The traditional dambu-nama packed in plastic containers grew visible moulds while others did not show any visible growth. The findings show that boiling for 90 minutes is the best processing technique for preparation of high quality dambu-nana