Edna Makule

Inland aquaculture operations are practised all over the world, contributing about 62.6% of all farmed aquatic animals. This venture is increasing worldwide and outpacing the global market demand for fish and fishery products driven by competition with other animals, over‐population and over‐exploitation of wild capture fisheries. These operations expand globally, associated with the degradation of the culture environment due to poor aquaculture management practices and algal blooms due to nutrient influxes as well as high demand of quality fish feeds of affordable price. To overcome these challenges, sustainable, healthy and environmentally friendly alternatives including probiotics application must be adopted to achieve better production, profitability and productivity as well as a resilient culture environment. In this review, information on potential applications of probiotics in aquaculture (inland aquaculture) focused on sources, safety, approved probiotics for aquaculture, characteristics of probiotics, mode of applications and its potential use on pathogenic microbes control, fish haematological parameters, growth performance and stress responses, water quality parameter, anti‐nutritional factors and feed digestibility, limitation of using probiotics in aquaculture and lastly future perspectives on the probiotics application in aquaculture industry were reviewed and compiled for future sustainable aquaculture production and productivity and environmentally friendly. The review has also highlighted all probiotics application and their approved authority for use in farmed freshwater fish (Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus, Catfish Clarias gariepinus, rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss and common carp Cyprinus carpio) and their cultured environment worldwide. Therefore, the review has comprised all information on the potential benefits application of probiotics in an inland aquaculture for public documentation and also identifies gaps in the aquaculture industry that require further research and assessment.

Cashew apples, although widely available and rich in nutrients are still underutilized after harvest in Tanzania. Approximately 2,327,000 metric tonnes of cashew apples are lost each year. Their counterpart, the cashew nut is highly appreciated and successfully contributes to the national economy. The huge underutilization of cashew apples is a challenge that requires urgent attention in order to achieve both national and global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Improvement of the cashew apple sector could have a positive impact on global SDGs 1, 2, and 3 targets of no poverty, zero hunger, and good health and well-being respectively. At national level, this sector could contribute to the goals of the Tanzania Development Vision (TDV) 2025, namely: high quality livelihood, particularly food self-sufficiency and food security; and a strong and competitive economy, particularly a diversified and semi-industrialized economy with a substantial industrial sector comparable to typical middle-income countries. In addition, the country’s Third Five Year Development Plan III (FYDP III) 2021/22 – 2025/26 has established key strategic interventions, notably those related to competitive industrialization, energy, and food and nutrition security to ultimately achieve the goals of the TDV 2025. To be effective, however, these strategic interventions require continued strong central and local government support and active involvement of stakeholders to ensure program effectiveness yielded towards efficient utilization of widely available natural resources such as cashew apples which has cross-cutting benefits in food, agriculture, health, energy, and economic perspectives. Therefore, the work provides evidence on the utilization status, challenges, and opportunities for sustainable development in Tanzania.

Background and Objective: Maize is the major staple in sub‐Saharan Africa. Whole‐grain maize meal (WGMM) is highly susceptible to rancidity development. This work investigated whether rancidity development in micronutrient‐fortified WGMM is retarded by drying the grain of safe moisture content to below this level using a commercial hot‐air grain dryer before milling.Findings: Fat acidity (hydrolytic rancidity measure) of WGMM from maize dried to 11.6% moisture and stored for 47 days at 40°C was only 61% of meal from the undried grain control (13.3% moisture). Peroxide value (oxidative rancidity measure) was only 53%. With the exception of riboflavin, there was no reduction in fortificant micronutrients during meal storage. Descriptive sensory evaluation indicated greater similarity to the control for stored maize meal and its stiff porridge from dried maize than for meal and porridge from undried maize.Conclusions: Drying maize grain to 11.6% moisture substantially retards rancidity development in fortified WGMM development, probably by inactivating the grain's lipase and oxidative enzymes, providing a shelf life of at least 20 weeks at 25°C.Significance and Novelty: This simple process to extend the shelf life of whole‐grain maize meal is implementable by any mill with access to a hot‐air grain dryer.

An investigation was carried out to extend the shelf life of cashew apple juice (CAJ) by up to 90 days from its natural shelf life. CAJ was obtained by pressing apples. Then, extracted juice was clarified, pasteurized, and added with preservatives, citric acid (0.01%), and sodium benzoate (0.01%). The juice was analyzed for physicochemical qualities, sugars, microbial (total bacteria, yeast, and mould) and sensory evaluation tests for appearance (yellow and brown color), aroma, and taste (astringent, bitter, and sweet). CAJ was stored at refrigeration (4°C) and ambient temperature (22.6-32.5°C) for 90 days. Sensory and shelf life analyses were conducted at 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90 days during storage. The results showed that cashew apple juice had strong vitamin C content (256.5 mg/100 mL). At ambient storage, there was high decrease of vitamin C (6.2-59.8%) and low decrease at refrigeration storage (1.6-10.5%). pH was found to decrease (4.4-3.15) and TSS (11–10.6°Bx), while titratable acidity (0.4–0.59%) increases with time at refrigerating storage. Also, at ambient storage, CAJ showed the similar trend, having decrease in pH (4.4-3.06) and TSS (11-10.3°Bx), while titratable acidity increased (0.4-0.61%). Moreover, sugar content for juice had minimum and maximum decrease at refrigeration and ambient temperatures, respectively. Storage at ambient temperature resulted in growth of microbes which was observed after 15 days for juices without preservatives and 75 days for juices with preservatives, with no E. coli growth. Juice on refrigeration had higher intensity of yellow color (7.50) and sweetness (5.58) while low intensity for astringency (1.58) ( ). Sensory evaluation of the beverage was found to be satisfactory. Thus, shelf life of cashew apple juice was extended to 90 days satisfactorily, ensuring consumption-safe parameters and satisfactory sensory qualities.

Aflatoxin (AF) is a powerful carcinogen primarily produced by some strains of the fungus Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus, which frequently infest nuts and cereal crops. Groundnuts are among the most widely studied substrates of Aspergillus spp., growth and AF contamination. Aflatoxin contamination is a significant public health concern since chronic exposure is linked to causing carcinogenicity, teratogenicity, hepatotoxicity, estrogenicity, neurotoxicity, childhood growth impairment, and immunotoxicity in humans and animals. Acute exposure to AF contamination is associated with fatal aflatoxicosis due to nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and convulsions. Good agricultural practices, control of plant diseases, and favourable storage conditions can limit AF contamination yet do not guarantee complete elimination. Looking for an effective technique to reduce AF to an acceptable regulatory limit has been a great subject among researchers. Physical methods like manual visual sorting, screening, density, roasting, dehulling, winnowing, and decortication can reduce AF contamination while maintaining the quality of the kernel and render the kernels harmless to humans and animals compared to AF degradation by chemicals. Therefore, the present review article found that physical removal/visual sorting efficiently lowered the mean AF content commonly used in low-income countries. We briefly enumerated the effectiveness of various common physical methods in reducing post-harvest AF contamination in groundnuts, particularly their percentage AF reduction and outsort/loss, sufficient AF reduction evidence, feasibility, and scalability. We also highlighted the merits and demerits of these methods and essential information that could be helpful for further investigation.

The tropical cashew tree, Anacardium occidentale L., has remarkable potential. The tree produces the pseudo-fruit known as the cashew apple and nuts. The apple is sweet, juicy, and loaded with dietary fiber, phytonutrients, minerals, and vitamin C. Despite having high nutritional content, the cashew apple is neglected in low-technological nations like Tanzania, primarily because of negligence over the well-known nut, its perishability, and its astringent taste. Contrarily, cashew apples are processed into various goods in high-income nations where food processing and technology improvements have been realized. Cashew apple products include juice, syrup, wine, alcohol, dietary fiber extracts, and animal feed. However, inadequate technologies and skills for postharvest handling and value addition have led to a considerable loss of cashew apples, contributing to pronounced food and nutrition insecurity. This review documents the production of cashew apples in Tanzania and reveals the fruit's critical underutilization and potential nutrition and economic opportunities. This documentation may call for interventions to create awareness of the importance of cashew apples in social-economic, food, nutrition and health, empower locals, and invite new processing technologies to diversify and extend shelf-life. The ultimate goal is to promote the utilization of this abandoned nutritious fruit. Such approaches may reduce postharvest losses and impact food and nutrition security and the social-economic empowerment of smallholder farmers.

The cashew apple is a nutritious pseudofruit of the cashew tree, after the nut. It is highly perishable and has an astringent taste, which hinder its utilization in the food sector. This study was designed to optimize clarification of cashew apple juice (CAJ) using gelatine, and assess the effect of clarification on physicochemical properties (titratable acidity, total soluble solids, and pH), nutrient retention, and sensory quality of pressed and blended CAJ. CAJ was treated with gelatine concentrations (0, 0.025, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 g/L) at room temperature (24–26°C) for 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 h. Both clarified and unclarified juice were analyzed for tannin, total phenol, β‐carotene, vitamin C, sugar, minerals, antioxidant activity, and physicochemical and sensory qualities. The results showed that tannin in pressed CAJ was optimally reduced from 217.6 mg/100 ml TAE to 24.6 mg/100 ml TAE, and from 258.0 mg/100 ml TAE to 55.0 mg/100 ml TAE in blended CAJ, using 0.2 g of gelatine in a liter of juice, for 2 h at room temperature. Both CAJ with and without clarification showed no significant difference in pH, total soluble solids, and titratable acidity (p < .05). However, blended CAJ had higher contents of total phenol, tannin, β‐carotene, vitamin C, sugar, minerals, and antioxidant activity (p < .05). The use of a low concentration (0.2 g/L) of gelatine in a liter of either blended or pressed CAJ yielded sweet and less astringent CAJ with high‐intensity yellow color. The technologies performed well at room temperature and therefore provide the basis for potential business investment.

Cashew apples, although widely available and rich in nutrients are still underutilized after harvest in Tanzania. Approximately 2,327,000 metric tonnes of cashew apples are lost each year. Their counterpart, the cashew nut is highly appreciated and successfully contributes to the national economy. The huge underutilization of cashew apples is a challenge that requires urgent attention in order to achieve both national and global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Improvement of the cashew apple sector could have a positive impact on global SDGs 1, 2, and 3 targets of no poverty, zero hunger, and good health and well-being respectively. At national level, this sector could contribute to the goals of the Tanzania Development Vision (TDV) 2025, namely: high quality livelihood, particularly food self-sufficiency and food security; and a strong and competitive economy, particularly a diversified and semi-industrialized economy with a substantial industrial sector comparable to typical middle-income countries. In addition, the country’s Third Five Year Development Plan III (FYDP III) 2021/22 – 2025/26 has established key strategic interventions, notably those related to competitive industrialization, energy, and food and nutrition security to ultimately achieve the goals of the TDV 2025. To be effective, however, these strategic interventions require continued strong central and local government support and active involvement of stakeholders to ensure program effectiveness yielded towards efficient utilization of widely available natural resources such as cashew apples which has cross-cutting benefits in food, agriculture, health, energy, and economic perspectives. Therefore, the work provides evidence on the utilization status, challenges, and opportunities for sustainable development in Tanzania.

Fruits and vegetables, known for their large nutrient potential, are more susceptible to high postharvest loss than other crops. Factors such as perishability, poor post-production handling and storage and processing infrastructures, increase the magnitude of food losses. The postharvest loss of fruits and vegetables in Sub-Saharan Africa ranges from 30% to 50%. One key strategy to overcome such losses is through cold chain integration in value chains. However, most developing countries currently lack the basic infrastructure and management skills needed to support the development of integrated cold chains, particularly in rural areas, where up to 60% of overall food losses occur on the farm and in ‘first-mile’ distribution. Storage of highly perishable produce in a controlled environment with respect to temperature and relative humidity leads to quality and quantity preservation. This contributes to increases in food and nutrition security, household incomes and environmental protection. This review addresses the need for adopting and strengthening measures for the precooling and cold storage of fruits and vegetables to improve their value chains. A range of precooling and cold storage methods, their suitability, energy demands and the constraints on storage and distribution are discussed and recommendations are made on how to improve their accessibility for small-scale farmers in rural communities.

The selection of healthy fats for consumption is important. Linoleic acid (LA) (omega-6) and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) (omega-3) are essential polyunsaturated fatty acids required for the maintenance of good health; however, LA derivatives such as arachidonic acid (AA) are associated with the onset of inflammatory diseases, and both are prone to oxidation and deterioration. This study compared the fatty acid contents, peroxide value (PV), p-anisidine value (p-AV), and free fatty acids (FFA) of the oyster nut oil with refined sunflower, nonrefined sunflower, and flaxseed oil stored at 27C for 40 days. Flaxseed oil had significantly high ALA content (59.8) compared to 0.1-0.5 for oyster nut and sunflower oil brands. The LA content was high in sunflower brands (50.3-52.8) compared to the oyster nut (48) and flaxseed oil 14.7. Oleic acid was lower in oyster nut oil (8.6) and flaxseed oil 15.8 compared to sunflower brands (35.7-38.2). As a consequence, oyster nut and flaxseed recorded higher PV of 4.35-2.88mEq O₂/kg and FFA 0.26-0.47 compared to sunflower brands. The p-AV recorded small values which were not significantly different in all samples. Although oyster nut is widely consumed by pregnant and lactating women across Africa, its keeping quality in nonrefined form is low compared to flaxseed and sunflower oil as shown in this study. Hence, the fatty acid contents in oyster nuts should be consumed in other alternative forms such as flour and roasted kernels rather than its oil when in nonrefined form. This study will enable the consumption balance of omega-6/omega-3 fatty acids and the keeping quality of oils which is key to health.