Meat floss (MF) is one of the popular, traditional ready-to-eat meat product produced and sold by local Northerner women in Nigeria. Due to the informal nature and procedures involved in its production, hygiene procedures are given little or no attention.
Producers (P) were painstakingly sought in Sabo-Mokola. A total of thirty samples of freshly prepared MF (500g each) were purchased from three producers (PMF1, PMF2 and PMF3). On the same day of each purchase, Laboratory MF (LMF) was prepared following standard procedures. The experiment was completely randomized and replicated three times. Sensory characteristics using 9-point hedonic scale, protein (%), ash (%) saturated and unsaturated fatty acids contents (%) using standard procedures were determined immediately. Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances (TBARS) (MAmg/kg) and Total Heterophilic Counts (THC) (cfu/gx103) were assessed at 0, 7, 14 and 21 days. The LMF protein (47.66%) was higher (P<0.05) than 37.57% (PMF1), 39.62% (PMF2), 40.19% (PMF3) while ash 5.50% (LMF), 4.97% (PMF2) and 4.73% (PMF3) were higher (P<0.05) than 3.40% (PMF1). Saturated fatty acid found in PMF ranged from 70.38-75.67% while unsaturated fatty acids ranged from 24.33-29.62%. The LMF TBARS (1.12 -1.92 MAmg/kg) were lower (P<0.05) than 2.90-7.03MAmg/kg obtained in all PMF during storage. The PMF aroma (3.00-4.13), flavour (4.19-5.81) juiciness (3.56-3.75) were lower (P<0.05) while THC (0.30-5.67) was higher (P<0.05) than LMF aroma (5.13), flavour (5.81), juiciness (6.56) and THC (0.13-0.23). The low sensorial attributes, high saturated fatty acid, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and microbial load revealed that meatfloss sold in Sabo-Mokola were low in quality. Therefore, effective steps should be taken to educate these producers on food safety including personnel hygiene and good production practices in order to improve and ensure safety of products.