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This study aims to investigate some physicochemical characteristics of Hildegardia barteri seed oils obtained by cold-pressing and solvent extraction procedures.

Crude oil samples were obtained from the kernels by cold pressing and solvent extraction. The physicochemical properties of the oil samples were investigated according to the standard procedures in published works of literature.

The oil yield was 55.7 and 97 per cent for cold-pressed kariya seed oil (CPKSO) and solvent-extracted kariya seed oil (SEKSO), respectively. Specific gravities, refractive indices, viscosities, iodine value, saponification value, peroxide value and acid value were 0.8742 and 0.9036; 1.4629 and 1.4584; 75.93 and 74.90 mPa.s; 55.78 and 53.56 g of I2/100g of oil; 249.76 and 253.90 mg KOH/g; 4.86 and 5.02 meq KOH/g; 2.12 and 2.09 mg KOH/g of oil for CPKSO and SEKSO, respectively. The physicochemical characteristics of kariya seed oil were not significantly affected by extraction method. The fatty acid profiles of CPKSO and SEKSO showed that the two oil samples contain 24.2 and 23.7, 31.3 and 29.3, 23.2 and 23.7 and 19.6 and 21.3 per cent of myristic, palmitic, stearic and linolenic acids, respectively. Lauric and oleic acids were present in very little proportions of 0.3 and 0.41; and 0.01 and 0.03 per cent, respectively, whereas linoleic acid was 1.4 per cent for the two oil samples. Significant differences in fatty acid profiles were observed for lauric, palmitic and linolenic acids (p = 0.05). Saturated and unsaturated fatty acids were about 79.0 and 77.11 per cent and 21.01 and 22.73 per cent for CPKSO and SEKSO, respectively.

This work promotes H. barteri tree beyond its use as a mere ornamental plant. The non-conventional seed oil it produces may find relevance in the food or biofuels industry subject to further investigation.

This study is the first to document the extraction and physicochemical properties of kariya seed oils.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a model that will demonstrate how the integration of Salam (exclusive agricultural commodity trade) with Takaful (micro-Takaful – a subdivision of Islamic insurance) and value chain can address major challenges facing the agricultural sector in Kano State, Nigeria.

The study conducted a thorough and critical analysis of relevant literature and existing models of financing agriculture in Nigeria to come up with the proposed model.

The findings indicate that measures undertaken to address the major challenges fail. In view of this, this study proposed Bay-Salam with Takaful and value chain model to solve a number of challenges such as poor access to financing, poor marketing and pricing, delay, collateral requirement and risk issues in order to avail farmers with easy access to finance and provide effective security to financial institutions.

The paper is limited to using secondary data. Therefore, empirical investigation can be carried out to strengthen the validation of the model.

The study outcome seeks to improve the productivity of the farmers through enhancing their access to finance. This will increase their level of production and provide more employment opportunities. In addition, it will boost financial inclusion, income generation, poverty alleviation, standard of living, food security and overall economic growth and development.

The novelty of this study lies in the integration of classical Bay-Salam with Takaful and value chain and create a unique model structure which the researchers do not come across in any research that presented it in Nigeria.

This study aims to assess the quality and microbial safety of traditional smoked spotted tilapia fish from Lagos State and, by doing so, determine the quality and microbial safety level of traditional smoked spotted tilapia fish, their distribution, effects and possible public health implications of the quality/rancidity indices and microorganisms on the consumers.

Fresh spotted tilapia fish (100 samples) were collected from 20 different fishing/processing centres and divided into two batches. One batch was smoked with local drum kiln at processing centres, and the second batch was smoked with convective smoking kiln as control in the laboratory. Each batch was assessed for moisture content, protein content, fat content, crude fibre content, ash content, pH, thiobarbituric acid (TBA), total volatile base- nitrogen (TVB-N), trimethylamine (TMA), peroxide value (PV) and free fatty acid (FFA) values. Microbiological analyses were also conducted. Each batch was assessed for total viable count (TVC), fungal count, Listeria monocytogenes count, Staphylococcus aureus count, Salmonella paratyphi count and presence or absence of Escherichia coli.

The results of the proximate composition, quality indices and microbiological analyses revealed that there was significant variations (p < 0.05) between smoked fish with different smoking methods. The mean pH, TBA, TVB-N, TMA, PV and FFA values of fresh and smoked spotted tilapia fish samples were within the range recommended by United States Food and Drug Administration. The mean TVC of fresh spotted tilapia fish samples was 6.3 × 106-8.8 × 108 cfu/g and TVC of samples of smoked spotted tilapia fish and the control were 2.0 × 104-6.4 × 104 cfu/g and 1.0 × 103-8.6 × 103 cfu/g, respectively. The mean L. monocytogenes count of fresh spotted tilapia fish samples was 1.3 × 102-2.4 × 102 cfu/g and that of samples of smoked spotted tilapia fish ranged from 1.6 × 101 to 23.1 × 101 cfu/g while samples of smoked spotted tilapia fish using convective smoking kiln showed no count for L. monocytogenes. The mean S. aureus count of fresh spotted tilapia fish samples ranged from 4.7 × 103 to 8.0 × 103 cfu/g and that of samples of smoked spotted tilapia fish ranged from 5.1 × 102 to 88.6 × 102 cfu/g and 1.1 × 102 to 3.8 × 102 cfu/g. The mean fat content (FC) count of samples of smoked spotted tilapia fish ranged from 1.1 × 101 to 6.0 × 101 cfu/g. S. paratyphi and E. coli were not detected in all smoked spotted tilapia fish samples. The study, however, concluded that the traditional drum smoked spotted tilapia fish could expose consumers to high microbial risk because of the presence of L. monocytogenes.

The fresh fish used in this study were obtained from coastal villages in Lagos State, and there were limitations in getting the samples in time to the processing centres and in preserving the fresh fish because of poor or non-availability of power (electricity).

The paper includes implications for the development of a cost-effective smoked fish, to ensure food safety, enhanced health and improve the preservation and post-harvest losses of fresh fish.

The paper helps in developing an effective smoked method that will produce good-quality smoked fish, reduce the incidence of food poison and enhance the health of consumers.

This research is of value to the traditional fish smokers and consumers. Smoked fish has been implicated as a source of microbial infection in Nigeria and West African sub-region in recent times and the need for good manufacturing practices cannot be overemphasized.