Acceptability of Tempeh among Health Workers in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria

Abstract

Tempeh was produced by fermenting soybeans with Rhizopus oligosporus NRRL 2710. The bacterial and fungal counts of fresh tempeh samples were 8.2x10 ⁶ cfu/g and 7.17x10 ⁶ cfu/g respectively. The pH of the soybean substrate increased from 5.6 to 6.92; while the moisture content decreased from 20.30% to 16.5% during fermentation. Acceptability of the processed tempeh among health workers in Ado-Ekiti was assessed by administering a questionnaire along with the tempeh. Responses by sixty one (61) individuals was analysed by chi-square at 5% level of significance. Acceptability of tempeh among the Moslems was significantly higher than among Christians. The differences in acceptability of tempeh based on sex, age, marital status and profession were not significant (at p < 0.05). Generally, there was a positive response as 77.05% of the health workers readily accepted tempeh.