Shelf Life Studies of Vacuum Packaged Fanti-Kenkey
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Date
November, 2018
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Abstract
‘Kenkey’ is an important food to the Ghanaian community with relatively lower shelf life. In the face of modern day consumer’s quest for convenience, it is imperative that studies be conducted to extend the shelf life of the product. This work sought to vacuum package ‘Fanti kenkey’ to extend its shelf life. One hundred and twelve (112) ‘Fanti kenkey’ samples were used for the study. The samples were divided into two and one part vacuum packaged. Each was then stored under ambient and refrigerated condition for 28 days. Samples (4 for each treatment) were picked at four (4) days interval for physicochemical and microbial load determination. Results from the parameters determined were then used to predict shelf life of the samples using statsgraphic centurion version 18. Physicochemical changes such as water activity and moisture did not have any significant relationship on the shelf life as days increase. Hence, they were not used in the shelf life prediction. In contrast, changes based on pH and yeast and molds had significant effect on the shelf life of ‘Fanti kenkey’ as days increase and therefore were used as major parameters for shelf life prediction. Shelf life predictions base on pH stored under four different treatments had approximately 29 days, 25 days, 24 days and 12 days for unvacuum package refrigerated condition, vacuum package ambient condition, vacuum package refrigerated and unvacuum package ambient respectively. On the other hand, shelf life prediction base on yeast and molds recorded the highest shelf life of about 30days for vacuum packaged ‘Fanti kenkey’ stored under refrigerated condition and 25 days for vacuum packaged ‘Fanti kenkey’ stored under normal ambient. Unvacuum packaged ‘Fanti kenkey’ stored under refrigerated condition and unvacuum package ‘Fanti kenkey’ stored under ambient recorded 9 days and 5 days respectively. In conclusion, vacuum packaging has the potential to increase shelf life of ‘Fanti-kenkey’ and could be exploited to satisfy the busy modern day people and enhance its appeal by local and international consumers.
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A thesis submitted to the Department of Food Science and Technology, College of Science, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Food Quality Management.