Full Length Research Paper

Physical, chemical and microbiological characteristics of lafun produced in Benin

Sègla Wilfrid Padonou^1,2*, Joseph D. Hounhouigan¹ and Mathurin C. Nago¹

¹Département de Nutrition et Sciences Alimentaires, Faculté des Sciences Agronomiques, Université d’Abomey-Calavi, 01 BP 526, Cotonou, Bénin.

²Programme Technologie Agricole et Alimentaire, Institut National des Recherches Agricoles du Bénin, 01 BP 128 Porto-Novo, Bénin.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: w_padonou@yahoo.fr. Tel.: +22990030056.

Fax: +22921361642.

Abbreviations: L*, Lightness; ΔE, the total difference of colour from the white ceramic standard; RVU, rapid visco analyser unit; Wb, wet basis; db, dry basis; n, number of samples; cv1, cv2 and cv, coefficients of variation.

Accepted 21 May, 2009

Lafun is an African traditional fermented food product prepared from cassava. Whereas Nigerian lafun has been studied, characteristics of Beninese lafun are still unknown. This research was carried out to identify the characteristics of two types of lafun, Chigan lafun and ordinary lafun produced in Benin. The distinctive characteristics of Chigan lafun (the preferred type) were its lower solubility and fibre content and its higher hot paste viscosities compared to ordinary lafun. Whatever the type, lafun was found to be a dried and white product with a highly variable pH (4.5-8.8). Both types were rich in carbohydrates (76.0% of starch and 3.3% of crude fibres), poor in proteins (1.0%) and containing fat (0.4%) and ash (1.2%). The swelling power of the lafun flour (expressed by the quantity of water absorbed by 1 g of flour) was 28.9 g water/g for the both types. Lafun has a variable microbial load which levels ranged from 10⁴ to 10⁸ cfu/g and made up of Bacillus spp. (10⁴-10⁸ cfu/g), lactic acid bacteria (10³-10⁷ cfu/g), Enterobacteriaceae (10³-10⁷ cfu/g) and yeasts (10²-10⁷ cfu/g).

Key words: Cassava, characteristics, lafun, micro-organisms, retting, stiff porridge.