Fermented food traditions in Africa By Paul t. Asare, Food material science lab Dept. of food science and technology, Chonbuk national university

1. FERMENTED FOOD TRADITIONS IN AFRICA
BY
PAUL T. ASARE
FOOD MATERIAL SCIENCE LAB
DEPT. OF FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
CHONBUK NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

2. OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION
a. Africa in brief
b. History of fermented foods in Africa
c. Types of fermented foods in Africa
d. The role of fermented foods in Africa
e. New trends in food fermentation in Africa
f. References

3. AFRICA IN BRIEF
 Population: 1074 (million)
 Second largest continent after Asia
 Countries : 56
 Divided into 5 subgroups based on location
a. North Africa
b. South Africa
c. West Africa
d. East Africa
e. Middle/central Africa

4. AFRICA IN BRIEF CONT’
 Invaders
a. Greek 800 BC
b. Romans 150BC
c. Middle East 600AD
d. European 1800s
European Influence
a. Trade
b. Slave
c. Language
d. Colonization
 Culture in Africa
a. Dress
Mixed with both modern and traditional style. Women tend to be more
traditional
b. Music
Traditional, modern made up of jazz, afrobeats
c. Foods in Africa
Cuisine combines traditional fruits and vegetables, exotic games and
fish form oceans

5. HISTORY OF FERMENTED FOODS IN AFRICA
 Sour milk 1352
 Alcoholic beverage from millet 1785
-1787
 Sour porridge 1800s
 Fermented foods have a long
history in Africa
 Records not available
 Sour milk was documented by Ibn
Batoutah 1352
 Souring milk by then was basically
to preserve it

6. HISTORY OF FERMENTED FOODS IN AFRICA
 Some advantages that prompted the art of food fermentation in Africa
a. Preservation: some of the fermented foods keep longer because of the
organic acids produced during the fermentation. Eg Ogi
b. Variety of flavor: the acid flavor from fermented cassava and cereals is
different from those cooked unfermented foodstuff.
c. Making inedible foods edible: Example African locust beam and oil beams are
inedible in their in their unfermented state. Also cassava cynaide level
d. Ease transportation of food materials

7. FEATURES OF TRADITIONAL ARTS OF FERMENTATION
a. Currently the production of many of the fermented foods is still a family art
b. Low or no value addition
c. Rudimentary equipment's are used
d. Chance inoculation from the environment
e. Conditions are not optimized beyond the levels of the original art of
production.
f. Women are the major stakeholders
g. Focus on conventional foods like rice, maize, millet, sorghum etc

8. SOCIO ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF FOOD FERMENTATION

9. SOCIO ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF FOOD FERMENTATION

10. FERMENTATION MATERIALS
Pot fermentation Pit fermentation
gourd fermentation

11. TYPES OF FERMENTED FOODS IN AFRICA
 Fermented starchy roots and tuber
 Fermented cereals
 Alcoholic beverages
 Fermented vegetable proteins
 Fermented animal proteins

12. FERMENTED NON ALCOHOLIC STARCHY FOODS
Name Area of Production Substrate Microorganism
involved
reference
Gari West Africa Cassava Streptococcus lactis
Geotrichum candidum
Collard & Levi 1959
Okafor 1977
Banku West Africa Cassava/Maize Lactic acid bacteria Abioye 1981
Cingwada East and Central
Africa
Cassava Unknown
Kocho Ethiopia Ensette Lactic acid bacteria Gashe 1987
Abolo Ghana Maize Yeast Personal

13. FERMENTED NON ALCOHOLIC STARCHY FOODS
Gari Abolo
Banku

14. FERMENTED ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
Product name Area of production Substrate Microorganims
involved
Reference
Palm wine Nigeria Palm sap Yeast Okafor 1975
Tej Ghana Honey Yeast Steinkraus 1979
Brukutu Ghana/ Nigeria Guinea corn Yeast and LAB Faparusi et al.,
1973
Pito Ghana/ Nigeria Guinea corn/Maize Moulds and yeast Ekundayo,1969
Kaffir Beer South Africa Kaffir corn or maize Lactobacillus spp Novellie, 1968
Plantain wine Nigeria Plantain Yeast and LAB Sanni, 1982
Cacao wine Nigeria Cacao Yeast Nout, 1979
Kishk Egypt Wheat and milk Lactobacillus spp Morocos et al.,
1973
Merissa Sudan Sorghum LAB Dirar 1978

15. FERMENTED ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
Palm wine
Pito

16. FERMENTED NON-ALCOHOLIC CEREAL-BASED FOODS
Product name Area of
production
Substrate Microorganisms
involved
Reference
Ogi Nigeria, Benin Maize, sorghum or
millet
Lactobacillus sp
and yeast
Akinrele 1970
Koko and kenkey Ghana Maize, sorghum or
millet
Lactobacillus sp
and yeast
Christian 1970
Mahewu South Africa Maize, sorghum or
millet
L. delbrueckii and
L. bulgaris
Hesseltine 1979
Uji East Africa Maize, sorghum or
millet
Lactobacillus sp Mbugua 1981
Kisra Sudan Sorghum Unknown Perten 1976
Enjara Ethiopia Sorghum Candida
guilliermondii
Stewrt 1976

17. FERMENTED NON-ALCOHOLIC CEREAL-BASED FOODS
Kenkey Porridge
Kenkey

18. FERMENTED ANIMAL PROTEINS
Product name Area of
production
Sunstrate Microorganims
involved
Reference
Maziwa lala East Africa Milk Streptococcus
lactis
Nout 1981
Nono (milk curd) West Africa Milk Various Eka and Ohaba
1977
Guedj Senegal Fish Not known Toury et al., 1970
Bonome (stink fisk) Ghana Fish Not known
Leban (sour milk) Morocco Milk Lactic streptococci Tantaoui-Elaraki et
al. 1983

19. FERMENTED ANIMAL PROTEINS
Maziwa Lala
Salted
fish/Bomone

20. FERMENTED VEGETABLE PROTEINS
Product name Area of
production
Substrate Microorganims
involved
Reference
Iru West Africa Locust bean Bacillus subtillis Odunfa 1981
Ogiri-saro Sierra Leone Sesame seed Bacillus spp Odunfa 1985
Kawal Sudan Cassia abtusifolia Bacillus subtillis Odunfa 1985
Ogiri Nigeria Melon seeds Bacillus spp Dirar et.al 1985

21. FERMENTED VEGETABLE PROTEINS
Iru

22. PROBLEMS FACING FOOD FERMENTATION IN AFRICA
1. Lack of quality assurance
2. It is mostly trial and error basis
3. It is done at the household level hence difficult to produce in high quantities
4. Methods of preparation varies from household to household and also not
documented.
5. Research into fermented foods is minimal

23. CONCLUSION
 The fermentation of food has the following advantages: longer keeping quality,
variety in flavor, making inedible foods edible. In addition fermentation have
enhanced nutritional values and decreased toxicity
 Unfortunately, the production of these foods in most African countries is
largely unsophisticated and does not allow for increased production in most
increasing demand
 To improve the production of fermented foods in Africa, there should be
scientific investigation into the microbial culture involved in the fermentation,
the processing equipment's and methods of optimizing the fermentation
conditions.

24. REFERENCES
 AKINRELE, I.A. (1964) Fermentation of cassava. Journal of Science of Food and Agriculture 9,584-589.
 CHRISTIAN, W.F. (1970) Lactic acid bacteria in fermenting maize dough. Ghana Journal of Science 10,
22-28.
 DIRAR, H.A. (1978) A microbiological study of Sudanese merissa brewing. Journal of Food Science 43,
1683-1686.
 HESSELTINE, C.W. (1979) Some important fermented foods in mid-Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Journal of American Oil Chemists' Society 56, 367-374.
 MBU6UA, S.K. (1981) Microbiological and Biochemical Aspects of uji (an East African Sour Cereal
Porridge) Fermentation and its Enhancement through Applications of Lactic Acid Bacteria. PhD Thesis,
Cornell University, Ithaca.
 NOUT, M.J.R. (1979) The manufacture and composition of Chang'aa (Nubian gin). Lebensmittel und
Wissenchafien Technologie 12, 212-216.
 OVELLIE, L. (1968) Kaffir beer brewing, ancient art and modern industry. Wallerstein Laboratory
Communications 31, 17-29.

25. REFERENCES
 ODUNFA, S.A. (1981a) Microorganisms associated with fermentation of African locust bean during iru
preparation. Journal of Plant Foods 25, 245-250.
 ODUNFA, S.A. (1985a) African fermented foods. In Microbiology of Fermented Foods. Vol. 2, ed. Wood,
B.J.B., pp. 155-191. London & New York: Elsevier Applied Science Publishers.
 ODUNFA, S.A. (1988) African fermented foods: from art to science. M1RCEN Journal, 1988, 4, 259-273
 PERTEN, H. (1976) UNDP/FAO sorghum processing project in the Sudan. In Tropical Products Institute
Conference Papers, pp. 53-55. Tropical Products Institute: Vienna.
 STEWART, B.R. & GETACHEW, A. (1962) Investigations of the nature of injera. Economic Botany 16,
127-130.
 TOURY, J., WARE, A., GIORGI, R. & GlOS, J. (1970) Fish in the diet in Senegal: Quantitative and
qualitative aspects, methods of preservation. Food and Nutrition in Africa 8, 6-13.

26. Thank you
for
your audience