In Nigeria, the castor seeds available to farmers are imported overtime. Changes during storage are vital tool for determining seed stability as well as viability. This study was aimed at comparing the metabolic enzymes’ activities, changes in accelerated aged seeds of local and imported castor genotypes. A total of six (6) castor accessions (local and exotic) were assessed for accelerated ageing at a temperature of 400C and 100% relative humidity for six (6) days. Activities of enzymes (catalase, amylase, protease and lipase) were determined in the aged seeds using standard biochemical procedures. The result showed a progressive decrease in enzyme activities of all enzymes studied. The decrease was only significant (p< 0.05) at day six (6) indicating that both local and exotic castor seeds have long shelf-life.

Thermal processing improves the physio-chemical, functional, nutritional and sensory attributes, as well as increasing the consumer appeal or general acceptability of foods. However, hundreds of potentially harmful toxicants are also generated during the heating process. This paper talks a look at a few of the heat-induced food toxicants such as polyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), hetrerolyclic amines (HCAs), acrylamide, acrolein, nitrosamines, lipid peroxides, benzene, hydroxyl-furfural and advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), with the hope of providing information on their presence in foods and creating awareness about their toxic effects which include carcinogenicity and organ damage. Possible ways of reducing their formation and hence the intake of such toxicants are also reviewed. The information provided here is based on evidence from epidomiological and toxicological studies and findings in both animal models and humans.

In this study, changes in the proximate, minerals, functional and color characteristics during the fermentation of decorticated and roasted soybean seed for the manufacturing of soybean-based condiment (soy-dawadawa) were evaluated for a period of 0, 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 hours (hr). The results indicated that fermentation time significantly (p<0.05) increase protein content from 44.92% to 66.82% with non-significant impact on the moisture. However, Ca and Mg significantly (p<0.05) increase and Na, K and P decreased with increasing fermentation time. Water absorption capacity decreased during the first 24 hr from 63.41 to 63.25%, but gradually increased to 69.73% at the end of the fermentation time, oil absorption decreased significantly during the first 24 hr from 81.45 to 81.31% and gradually decreased to 78.62%. There was no significant difference (p<0.05) among the samples as a result of the changing fermentation time in terms of water solubility index. Increasing fermentation time was found to improve lightness (L* = 49.50 to 53.88) of the product and reduced redness (a* = 9.90 at 72 hr and 8.95 at 144 hr). There was no significant impact on the yellowness color attributes. Improved protein content suggests its possible use as potential source to improve the nutritional qualities of local soups. While the increased water absorption indicates suitability as soup thickener.

In order to solve the boredom involved in Moringa oleifera decorticating operation which is one of the major factors militating against large scale production , processing and the use of this important oil crop, a mechanically operated moringa  seed decorticating machine was developed. The machine consists of three major units, the decorticating unit which cracks and dislodges the inner shell from the nut, the blower unit which is incorporated to facilitate easy and proper cleaning and separation of the seeds from the chaffs and the winnowing unit which further clean and separate the seed from the chaffs. The machine is operated by a 2hp electric motor. Performance tests were carried out using three levels of moisture contents of moringa seed (7%, 10% and 13%) and at three levels of cylinder speeds (230 rpm, 330 rpm and 430 rpm). Each one replicated three times, gave the average decorticating and cleaning efficiencies of 88.00 % and 86.40 %. The machine had average seed losses of 2.29 % and undecorticated seeds were 16 %. The average kernel recovery efficiency was found to be 97.7 %. The ANOVA results show that the moisture contents and speeds have significant effect on both the decorticating and cleaning efficiencies of the machine at (P < 0.05), though the interaction between the factors (speeds and moisture contents) do not show any significant effect on decorticating and cleaning efficiencies at (P < 0.05). The developed machine could reduce the drudgery involved in manual decortication of 5 kg/day and saves about 70 % operating time.