Articles

Tanga City is the region with several micro-and small-scale pasta processing companies in the country. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the quality and safety of folded vermicelli produced by the small-scale processors in Tanzania. Samples of 1 kg folded vermicelli were collected from 14 processing companies, by the intentional cluster sampling technique. The samples were analysed for aflatoxin and microbiological (<i>Escherichia coli</i>, <i>Aspergillus flavus</i>, and <i>Aspergillus parasiticus</i>) quality. Moreover, physico-chemical quality was assessed in terms of diameter by using a digital calliper, moisture content by oven-drying method at 110℃± 5℃, breaking strength by the texture analyzer, and colour by colourimeter (Chroma Meter CR-400) of the collected samples were determined. In terms of microbial quality, the results indicated contamination by <i>E. coli</i> (1.25-3.00 Log CFU.g<SUP>-1</SUP> in 8/14 samples), <i>A. flavus</i> (2.23-2.83 Log CFU.g<SUP>-1</SUP> in 12/14 samples), and <i>A. parasiticus</i> (1.22-2.75 Log CFU.g<SUP>-1</SUP> in 2/14 samples) as they are beyond the set limits. The diameter varied between 0.90 mm to 1.73 mm in 9/14 samples and moisture content were 10.61% to 12.65% in 13/14 samples, being within the established parameters. The samples indicated low breaking strength with levels between 6.79x10<SUP>5</SUP> N.m<SUP>-2</SUP> to 3.75x10<SUP>6</SUP> N.m<SUP>-2</SUP> in 11/14 samples. The result of brightness (L*) were between 53.03 to 72.14 and yellowness (b*) between 13.68 to 19.48 indices, indicating that there was no significant difference at the 5% level, respectively, although 2/14 samples had red (a*) colour values (-1.32 – +0.56). However, 4/14 samples were detected with aflatoxin B<SUB>1</SUB> (0.60-0.70 μg.kg<SUP>-1</SUP>), they are within the recommended level (5 μg.kg<SUP>-1</SUP>). The study underscores the need for concerted efforts to enhance production and hygiene practices to ensure consistent compliance with quality and safety standards.

The study sought to investigate the Physical Properties of Fabrics: Chemical Compositions of Selected Detergents on Colourfastness of GTP Wax Print and ATL Wax Print (Indigo) in Ghana. A 3×2×2 factorial experiment which includes three washing cycles, the two detergents and two fabrics types were used or the study. A total of 146 specimens were cut randomly from along the warp and weft grain directions of ATL and GTP wax prints and subjected to washing and breaking at the laboratory using standard equipment. The data was analysed using Microsoft Excel 2007 version and the results were presented using means and percentage tables. One-way analysis of variance (Anova) was used to test the hypotheses formulated. The study revealed that there was no significant difference in the tensile strength between GTP and ATL wax prints after undergoing three washing cycles with Omo multiactive and Ariel enzymax. The degrading effect in terms of loss of tensile strength of Ariel enzymax on both wax prints was greater than that of Omo multiactive. There was no significant difference in the colour fastness between ATL and GTP wax prints after undergoing three washing cycles each with Ariel enzymax and Omo multiactive. It is recommended that both GTP and ATL fabric manufacturers should pay particular attention to the physical properties (such as thread count, fabric weight and weave type) when purchasing grey goods for further processing of their products. It is also recommended that, Ghana Standards Authority should make it compulsory for the manufacturers of washing detergents to indicate the correct chemical composition of their products on the packages.