Hematological indices and sensory quality of fermented soybean condiments

Several studies have shown that most condiments consumed in Nigeria today are fortified with chemicals that alter the nature and affects the blood indices and the sensory parameters. Therefore the need to produced natural condiments from indigenous microbes in order to maintain the blood indices and the sensory attributes will be the ultimate success to be attained. The aim of this study was to evaluate the hematological indices and sensory quality of fermented soybean condiments produced from indigenous microbes. Soybean (Glycine max) sample was fermented with indigenous microorganisms isolated from 7 days old fermented soybean sample. This was oven-dried, pulverized and packaged in a cleaned sterile screw capped container. The hematological effects were determined using in vivo and instrumentation techniques. The sensory evaluation and acceptability of the condiments were carried out among validated participants and analyzed using 9-point hedonic scale. Lactobacillus plantarum strain ZS 2058 (L), Bacillus subtilis strain 168 (B) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain YJM555 (Y) were the indigenous microbes used singly and in consortium for the production of light to dark brown condiments with water activity ranging from 0.27 – 0.37 for the fermented soybean in the plate and 0.22 - 0.36 for the fermented soybean wrapped with Thaumatococcus danielli leaves (called Uma in Igbo and Ewe eran in Yoruba). The in vivo study showed that the condiment showed significant (p<0.05) increased in lymphocytes, slight increase in Red Blood Cells (RBCs) and little or no effect on other parameters, of the effects of BLY was most pronounced. The condiments fermented in sterile plastic plates had higher rating in odour, colour, taste and acceptability. Therefore condiments produced from fermented indigenous B, L, Y, BL and BLY positively affects the blood indices and had good sensory qualities and those fermented in plastic plates using BLY were most preferable and acceptable.