ABSTRACT
Meatball is a popular meat product and is found in the category of chicken ball, fish ball, beef ball, squid ball, and also prawn ball. However, the common meatballs which are found easily in the market are chicken ball, fish ball, and beef ball. This study was conducted to examine the applications of different processing methods in the production of meatballs containing soyabean and cocoyam as another source of nutrient.
The cocoyam meatballs were formulated to contain 5, 10, 15, 20% of cocoyam with 80% catfish and chevon and other condiments making up 20%. They were mixed homogenously with the cocoyam flour and manually rolled with hands into balls of 2.28cm in diameter. The balls were deep fried in hot vegetable oil using a fryer for 3 minutes @ 170̊C. Ten fish/meat balls samples were placed in coded dish and presented to a semi-trained sensory taste panelists using a 5-point hedonic scale to assess the organoleptic (sensory) characteristics of colour, flavour, taste, texture, appearance and overall acceptability of the products and the panelists were made up of 35 judges. A 3 way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) was used to accommodate all the experimental treatments in this study. Proximate compositions were also determined. Microbial analysis to determine the shelf stability was also carried out. . Data obtained from the study were subjected to statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedures using GenStat 17th edition and Duncan Multiple Range Test were used to separate the means.
Results from the sensory evaluation showed that the highest colour score was observed in the control balls of 15% soyabean inclusion level. Generally, the meatballs with 15% soy and 20% cocoyam inclusion levels were accepted by consumers. The result also showed that the most acceptable meatballs in terms of sensory characteristics were chevon balls. It was therefore recommended that since catfish farming is a lucrative business in Nigeria, extending the catfish value chain through catfish ball production will make for more available, affordable, nutritious and acceptable convenient food and serve as a means of eradicating unemployment among the citizenry of Nigerian and Sub-Saharan Africa.
