Consumer intentions to buy nutrient-rich precooked bean snacks: does sensory evaluation matter?

Precooked bean products have the potential of bridging the common bean demand and consumption gap in Kenya. However, sensory evaluation of novel precooked processed products has been inadequate in determining acceptability. This study assessed the sensory evaluation of precooked bean snacks by 269 rural consumers in Machakos County of Kenya. Descriptive results indicated that less than one-quarter (22%) of the consumers were aware of the precooked bean products. The low awareness is a disconnect from the expectations that farming households were probably going to be aware of processed bean products because of their participation in bean value chain. Sensory evaluation showed that 75% of the consumers evaluated the freshness of the bean snacks positively, with about 90% and 63% of them positively assessing the taste of the precooked bean snacks branded Keroma Delicious and Keroma Fruity, respectively. The taste evaluation of Keroma Fruity brand significantly differed depending on age and level of education of the consumer. Similarly, the taste of Keroma Delicious brand also significantly differed by age and educational attainment of consumers. Furthermore, while consumers liked the taste parameters of the products, less than half of them liked the beany flavour of the two products. Results from the binary logit regression model indicated that freshness, sourness, and flavour positively and significantly predicted the probability of future purchases of Keroma Fruity bean snack brands. Consumer intentions to buy Keroma Delicious brand were positively predicted by flavour and marginally by sweetness. To accelerate the consumption of precooked bean products, product development and marketing strategies should recognise the role of sensory attributes in driving acceptability of the bean snacks, deploy processing technologies that retain and enhance sensory attributes, create awareness of the products, and segment the market from a gender lens in order to satisfy the diverse consumer needs and preferences

Cytotoxic Quinones from the Roots of Aloe dawei

Seven naphthoquinones and nine anthraquinones were isolated from the roots of Aloe dawei by chromatographic separation. The purified metabolites were identified by NMR and MS analyses. Out of the sixteen quinones, 6-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxy-2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone is a new compound. Two of the isolates, 5,8-dihydroxy-3-methoxy-2-methylnaphthalene-1,4-dione and 1-hydroxy-8-methoxy-3-methylanthraquinone showed high cytotoxic activity (IC50 1.15 and 4.85 µM) on MCF-7 breast cancer cells, whereas the others showed moderate to low cytotoxic activity against MDA-MB-231 (ER Negative) and MCF-7 (ER Positive) cancer cells

Evaluation of Mechanical Properties of Goat Leather Tanned using Acacia xanthophloea

Acacia xanthophloea is a tree in the Fabaceae family with wide distribution mainly around Laikipia in Central Kenya and major parts of the Rift Valley town of Naivasha, Kenya. A number of trees under the Fabaceae family are renowned as sources of vegetable tannins for leather processing. Despite recent advances in research, locally available vegetable tanning materials have not been widely exploited in Kenya for commercial tanning purposes. This study aimed to evaluate the mechanical properties of goat leather tanned with crude extracts of Acacia xanthophloea from Naivasha, Kenya. Crude extracts of Acacia xanthophloea combined with pre-tanning and tanning procedures were used to produce leather. The commercial mimosa was used as a control. The leather tanned with crude extracts of Acacia xanthophloea had a thickness of 0.81 ± 0.11 mm, tearing strength of 37.87 ± 2.09 N, tensile strength of 27.50 ± 7.51 N/mm2, percentage elongation of 18.00 ± 6.67, grain crack of 6.19 ± 0.20 mm and grain burst of 7.10 ± 0.27 mm. The crude extracts of Acacia xanthophloea confer good tanning and give the leather a reddish tinge, whereas some mechanical properties attenuated, compare favourably with the control (mimosa). Acacia xanthophloea which is abundantly available in Kenya with scarce use can potentially be cultivated and refined as a commercial source of tannins