Authors: Diana Arubayi, Omolara Bosede Ogbonyomi.
This study investigated the organoleptic / sensory evaluation of meat pies prepared from plantain / wheat flour composite. Five different blends of composite flours were formulated using plantain and wheat flour at the ratio of 10:90, 20:80, 30:70, 40:60, and 50:50. Meat pies samples were prepared from these five different blends and 100%
wheat flour meat pie samples served as the control. The five blends of plantain / wheat composite and the control were coded (PWMP1, PWMP2, PWMP3, PWMP4, PWM5, and PWMP6 respectively) and subjected to organoleptic / sensory evaluation using the 9-point hedonic scale with 5 being the cut off mark using twenty - five semi-trained judges for preference assessment in terms of general appearance, colour, texture, flavour, taste, crispness, mouth feel and overall acceptability. Experimental research design was employed in this study. Two (2) research questions were answered and Mean (X) of responses obtained. One (1) hypotheses were statistically tested using the one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to examine the significant level of all parameters that were measured. Means was separated by Least Significant Difference (LSD) Test. Significance was accepted at P ≤ 0.05. Sensory evaluation of meat pie samples revealed that there was no significant difference in the ratings for all parameters measured up to 20% substitution except in colour which was significantly different at 20% substitution. The result also shows that up to 40% of the composite meat pie samples were generally acceptable. The researchers, therefore, concluded that wheat flour could be substituted with up to 40% plantain flour without adversely affecting the sensory properties of meat pies. Substituting meat pies and other snack products up to 40% will help to as reduce post-harvest losses, increase the food use of plantain as well and conserve foreign exchange spent on wheat importation in the country.