ABSTRACT

Quality of canned onugbo soup using glass bottles and its shelf stability were studied. Sterilization ofthe soup was done in a vertical sterilizer retort. The freshly prepared onugbo soup was used as the control and the soup was stored for two months during which proximate, quality characteristics and sensory evaluation analysis were carried out on the soup. There were significant differences (p<0.05) on the proximate composition of the sterilized and unsterilized soup samples. The proximate mean values ranged from 70.26 to 73.88% moisture, 1.55 to 1.74% ash, 9.71 to 8.54% protein, 0.34 to 0.41% fiber, 5.03 to 6.19% fat and 8.16 to 14.22% carbohydrate. The quality characteristics ofsoup samples at zero month showed that there was no significant difference (p>0.05) on the FFA, pH and total solid contents ofthe soup samples. The FFA, pH and total solid mean values ranged from 0.45 to 0.55% FFA, 6.38 to 6.51% pH and 21.24 to 22.13% total solid. There was a significant difference (p<0.05) on the quality characteristics ofsoup samples at two months. The quality characteristics mean values ranged from 0.55 to 1.86% FFA, 6.10 to 6.38 pH and 22.13 to 25.61% total solid. The sensory evaluation means scores ranged from 7.40 to 8.60 colour, 7.80 to 8.20 taste, 7.60 to 8.00 aroma, 7.80 to 8.20 texture, 7.60 to 8.20 mouthfeel and 7.80 to 8.20 general acceptability. The study revealed that onugbo soup can be canned in glass bottles and stored for two months at room temperature without affecting the sensory properties.