Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Understanding the processing behaviour of the underutilised Nigerian pigeon pea seed as a contribution to ensuring food security

4^th International Conference and Exhibition on Food Processing & Technology

August 10-12, 2015 London, UK

Mary Okpala1, 2, Bill MacNaughthan1, Tim Foster1, Sandra Hill1 and Bettina Wolf1

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Food Process Technol

Abstract:

The overall aim of this ongoing research is to understand the processing behaviour of Nigerian pigeon pea seed with a view to
formulate a highly nutritional ready-to-eat snack product in regions where pigeon pea is native and food security is of concern.
Extrusion processing was selected as the conversion process from seed to consumer product in particular with the aim of designing a
cost effective one-step process. This necessitates thorough understanding of the physico-chemical material properties of native pigeon
pea seeds and the impact of enhanced pressure and temperature in presence and absence of water in the most basic formulation.
Challenges anticipated at the onset of this research included the hard-to-cook property of these seeds and the presence of antinutritional
factors. At domestic scale pigeon pea seeds are soaked in water at least overnight then washed and cooked. At industry
scale a shorter process would be more desirable; thus hydro-thermal and enzymatic conditioning of pigeon pea seed and the impact
on their physico-chemical and nutritional properties were investigated. Pre-conditioning was carried out on whole seeds followed by
draining of the aqueous conditioning medium and milling. The milled flour has a moisture content of about 20% wwb and requires
dehydration before it can be extrusion processed. This additional process step adds to the cost and thus it was evaluated whether milled
flour prepared from the original seeds can be directly extrusion processed. Indeed, this was successful and on the poster examples
of extrudates and results of their physico-chemical and nutritional analysis will be presented. Overall, this research has shown some
promising results and without having explored complex formulations it has produced a basic near-market snack product.

Biography :

Mary Okpala is a Lecturer at Federal Polytechnic Oko, Anambra state Nigeria but currently doing her PhD research at the Division of Food Science, University Of
Nottingham, United Kingdom. Her area of interest is in studying the structural transformation of pigeon pea through extrusion processing with the aim of producing a high
quality ready to eat products. She has also acquired six years of experience in the Pasta industry.