Effect of Wrapping Materials on Myco Flora Growth, Proximate Composition and Shelf Life of Solid Pap Sold in Lapai, Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

Solid pap a gel-like traditional fermented starchy food produced from maize (Zea mays), is a popular food across the various multi-ethnic groups and socio-economic classes in Nigeria. However, packaging, an integral part of food processing that provides the proper environmental conditions for long shelf life and protects the products against microbiological, chemical or physical deterioration is a major problem. This study, therefore investigated the effects of wrapping materials on mycoflora growth, and proximate composition of the food. Proximate and microbial analysis of freshly prepared pap was done before storage for 10 days. The samples were wrapped in banana leaves (Musa paradiosiaca) and nylon. The proximate and microbial analyses were conducted during storage at day 3, 5 and 10. The results showed that fresh pap have percentage moisture (9.03%), ash (2.08%), crude fibre (3.04%), crude fat (0.85%), protein (3.99%), and carbohydrate (82.00%). The moisture content increased with period of storage from day 0 to 10 day (from 10.03% to 16.50% in leaf and from 10.03% to 12.20%in nylon). The proximate compositions of pap wrapped with nylon were significantly (p<0.05) higher than pap wrapped with leaf except for carbohydrate content which was a bit higher in pap wrapped with leaf than nylon at day 3, 5, and 10 of storage. The isolated fungi in pap included Mucor species, Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, Penicillium notatum. The occurrence of these fungi was observed to be significantly (p>0.05) increased from day 3 to day 10, the end of storage period in both wrapping materials. However, this study revealed that the pap is less susceptible to microbial attack, and nutrients are best retained when nylon are used to wrap the pap than leaf. Therefore, the use of banana leaves in wrapping the pap must be discouraged as it made it liable to easy attack by the fungi and invariably leads to its deterioration.