Determination of Essential Elements and Heavy Metals Contained in Table Salt

Salt is the oldest known food additive and still remains an essential requirement of any household contributing its own basic salty taste. This paper treats the different types of salt; industrial salt, table salt and refined salt. Table salt accounts for only a small part of the salt production in industrialized countries although worldwide food uses account for 17.5% of salt production the majority of the salt produced is sold for industrial use. Different types of salt have different minerals , giving each one its unique flavor. Standards are given by Standard organization of Nigeria(SON) for elements and micronutrients which are expected to be contained in salt. In order to determine the contents of table salt, six samples of salt were collected from the markets in the metropolis. Two foreign salts - Best in table salt and Anmol salt were collected with four local salts- Royal salt, Mr. Chef, Annappurna and Dangote salt. The values obtained for all the analyzed samples were found to be slightly higher the SON specification for water insoluble matter. The result showed the presence of higher insoluble matter in the samples. This could be attributed to packaging and exposure. Proper care was not taken to prevent even dust from settling on the samples. Other insoluble matters could be from sand particles from equipments during production.Keywords: Salt, Analysis, Table salt, Standard organization of Nigeria, Sample

System Parameters and Product Properties Responses During Extrusion of Fura from Millet-Soybean Mixtures

A three-factor, three-level central composite rotatable composite design (CCRD) was adopted to study the effect of feed composition (X1), feed moisture content (X2) and screw speed (X3) on the system parameters (torque, pressure, and specific mechanical energy) and fura extrudate properties (expansion ratio and bulk density) from blends of pearlmillet and soybean flour mixtures. The torque was influenced negatively but significantly (p < 0.05) by linear effects of feed composition and screw speed. The die pressure was also influenced negatively by the linear effects of the screw speed significantly (p < 0.05). The response surface plot showed that the specific mechanical energy SME was decreasing as screw speed increased while SME marginally decreased as feed moisture increased. The linear effects of the independent variables significantly (p < 0.05) affected the expansion ratio. The linear and quadratic effects ofthe independent variables significantly (p < 0.05) affected the bulk density. The CCRD was effective in explaining the effect of the process conditions on fura as influenced by feed composition, feed moisture and screw speed. The importance of process variables on system parameters and physical properties could be ranked in the following order: Feed Composition (X1) > Feed Moisture (X2) > Screw Speed (X3). Response variables predicted with model equations under optimum conditions were in general agreement with experimental data. The data obtained from the study could be used for control of product characteristics and possible projection for the commercial production of fura

Effect of process variables on the hydration properties and acceptability of extruded millet-soybean blends for fura manufacture

Purpose Fura is a traditional thick dough ball snack produced principally from millet or sorghum which is common in Nigeria. It is consumed with nono (local fermented milk) or mashed in water before consumption in the form of porridge. The purpose of this paper is to study the optimization of feed composition, feed moisture and screw speed on acceptability and hydration properties of fura extrudates from pearl millet and soybean flour mixtures. Design/methodology/approach The effects of extrusion conditions feed composition (ratio of soybean to millet), percentage moisture wet basis and screw speed (rpm) on the hydration properties and the acceptability of fura from millet‐soybean flour mixtures were studied using a single screw extruder. Response surface methodology (RSM) was adopted to evaluate the hydration properties responses of fura extrudates. Findings The models showed R2=0.863, 0.825, 0.898 and 0.741 for hydration power (HP), effect of quantity of water on swell volume (EQWSV), wettability (WTBLTY) and viscosity respectively indicating that the model was a good fit and could be used to navigate the design space. The result indicates that increasing the level of soybean flour resulted in decreased HP of fura extrudates. The overall acceptability sensory scores show that the fura extrudate design point 11 representing 20 percent soybean, 16.6 percent feed moisture and 200rpm recorded the highest acceptability (7.25) with significant differences from the other extrudates in terms of colour, flavor, texture and overall acceptability. Originality/value The extrusion cooking data from this study could help predict the expected performance in investigations of potential use of millet and soybean to explore the possibility of industrial projection

The weather dictates the rhythms: Alpine chamois activity is well adapted to ecological conditions

Activity rhythms play an important role in the ecological relations of a species and form part of its evolutionary adaptation. Such rhythms are strongly synchronised with the annual cyclic changes by environmental stimuli, the so-called zeitgebers. Animals’ reliance on environmental stimuli is highly species-specific and allows behavioural adjustments to be made in preparation for the conditions expected in each season. We investigated daily and annual activity rhythms of Alpine chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) by analysing high-resolution data of animals monitored with GPS collars. This first detailed field study of chamois activity showed that this species exhibited clear daily and annual activity rhythms entrained to the light-dark cycle. Chamois were more active during spring-summer and less active during winter, likely in response to the variation in the availability of food resources: both sexes appeared to maximise energy intake during the season offering the highest amount of food resources to compensate for poor food supply during winter. Daily activity was influenced by the climatic factors considered. We showed a negative correlation between daily activity and adverse climatic conditions (i.e. precipitation and, during winter, snow depth). As activity was strongly influenced by the interplay between temperature and wind throughout the year and by radiation and wind in winter, we conjectured that it was critically dependent upon animals’ thermal balance. In conclusion, our study highlighted that chamois is well adapted to the Alpine environment and seasonality but also raised questions about its ability to adapt to future climate change. Significance statement: In this study, we investigated the effects of ecological factors on Alpine chamois activity. Thanks to radio collars with accelerometers, we obtained highly detailed information on activity levels of wild animals. We found that chamois were more active during spring-summer (i.e. the seasons with the highest quality and quantity of food) and less active during winter. Our results showed that chamois activity was strongly influenced by such climatic factors as temperature, precipitation and wind speed. In winter time, chamois activity increased during the days with high solar radiation and decreased with high snow depth. Given their wide distribution in the Alps, chamois can be considered as a sentinel species of Alpine habitats. Thus, our results on the current relationship between climate and chamois behaviour may shed light on the animals’ ability to track and adapt to climate change