Nutritional and mycoflora changes during storage of plantain chips and the health implications

Abstract

Mycoflora of sundried plantain chips during storage and the effects of these fungi on the nutrient composition of chips were determined. Eight fungi: Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, A. fumigatus, Mucor sp., Neurospora sp., Fusarium sp., Rhizopus sp., and Penicillum sp were found associated with the sundried plantain chips in storage while the freshly prepared chip harbored A. niger, A. flavus, Mucor sp.and Fusarium sp. The various fungi were isolated using washing, direct and dilution methods. The fungal count was found to increase as the time of storage of increased. Moreover, the carbohydrate, crude protein, crude fat and crude fibre of the freshly prepared plantain chips were significantly higher than those of the stored ones. The moisture content, ash and Phosphorus content of the stored sundried plantain chips were significantly higher than the freshly prepared plantain chips. The increase in moisture content and the ash content with storage time may be due to the degradative activities of the fungi present on (and or in) the samples. All the minerals (Na, K, Ca, Mg, Zn, Fe, Mn, Co, Cu and P) assessed were found to be in high concentrations, in the freshly prepared plantain chips than in the stored samples except Phosphorus.   Key words: Fungi, plantain chips, stored product, minerals, proximate analysis.