Ernest Teye^1,, Robert Sarpong Amoah¹, Michael Osei Adu², Daniel Darko¹

Gari is a major staple food for many West Africans. This study aimed at evaluating the quality parameters of gari, price per quantity in “Olonka” (a local measuring container) and develop a nondestructive simple technique for assessing adulteration. A completely randomized design (CRD) was used with three replications. The samples of gari were collected from seven regions of Ghana (from: processors and retailers in each region). The results showed that the mean price per weight in “Olonka” was 2.12 kg per Gh 6.4 (0.3313 kg/Gh). The physicochemical properties fall within acceptable range; pH was 4.3 to 5.4, moisture content was 4.5- 7.4 %, and ash content was 1.11-1.61 %. Swelling capacity and bulk density were 3.0- 3.2 and 0.52- 0.61 g/cm³, respectively. Particle size distribution was found to be 0.94-1.69 mm. From this study, bulk density and swelling capacity technique could be used to detect adulteration of gari with sawdust above 10 %. The tests showed that gari produced in Ghana meet the world and local standard, and adulteration of gari with sawdust can easily and simply be detected rapidly using low technology even in rural areas by determining their bulk density and swelling capacity using the developed prediction equations: Y = 0.0035X + 0.239 (R² = 0.9827) where; Y = bulk density and X= percentage pure gari and Y = 0.0207X + 0.9618 (R² = 0.9811) where; Y = swelling capacity and X= percentage pure gari, respectively.

quality, gari, physicochemical properties, adulteration, prediction equation