Abstract: There is little or no information on the use of legal additives in the production of cassava bread, a baked product made with cassava flour and most often in combination with wheat flour. In this study, calcium propionate (anti moulding agent) and ascorbic acid (a food antioxidant) were assessed as food additives in cassava bread samples made with cassava flour from two cassava varieties (TME419 and TMS30572) with 60%, 80% and 90% wheat flour inclusion. The molds associated with the spoilage of bread were studied. Results showed that 0.6% calcium propionate inclusion in the bread samples could make the bread to have safe level of molds even at four days post processing storage at ambient temperature (26-29ºC). The studies on colony count in breads at different storage intervals showed that treatment containing 0.6% calcium propionate 0.3% ascorbic acid proved to be most effective against control of count. Most molds isolated belonged to the genera Rhizopus, Aspergillus, and Pencillium. After analyzing the samples, Rhizopus was found to be the most occurring fungi in bread.
The fresh bread samples with the additives were also generally acceptable by the consumers (sensory panelists) in an organoleptic evaluation with the ratings of the samples having 80-90% wheat flour inclusion not being significantly different (P=0.05) with that of 100% wheaten bread.
Keywords: Cassava flour, cassava bread, food additives, calcium propionate, ascorbic acid, mould.
Title: A Study on Possible Use of Calcium Propionate and Ascorbic Acid in the Production of Cassava Bread
Author: J .U Amajor, U. Chijioke, U. J. Ukpabi, S.C. Osodeke, C. Aniedu, E. Oti
International Journal of Life Sciences Research
ISSN 2348-313X (Print), ISSN 2348-3148 (online)
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