Influence of bio and chemical preservative on microbiological, sensory properties and antioxidant activity of ginger-flavored plantain wine for food waste prevention strategy

Plantain (Musa paradisiaca), a staple crop in Africa especially Nigeria holds cultural and economic importance. However, due to rapid ripening and high perishability, a significant portion of harvested plantains spoils, contributing to substantial agricultural food waste and economic losses. Plantain wine ( Agadagidi ) is an alcoholic beverage made from overripe plantain through fermentation. The fermentation of overripe plantain wine to produce “ Agadagidi ’ is a waste prevention strategy for processing of plantain, a perishable crop which has much less value when it is overripe; hence it is used for wine production, and it's faced with various challenges among which are short shelf life and microbial-induced spoilage. This study investigates the effectiveness of bio and chemical preservation on the microbiological characteristics, sensory properties and antioxidative activity of ginger flavored plantain wine. Three samples, plantain wine, wine yeast (saccharomyces cerevisiae) and 9 % Sugar (sample A); Wine, Sodium metabisulphite (0.1 %), wine yeast (saccharomyces cerevisiae) , 9 % sugar (sample B); and plantain wine, wine yeast (saccharomyces cerevisiae) , 4 % Ginger extract and 9 % sugar (sample C) were investigated. The total viable count, total yeast and mould count were determined, pH, titratable acidity, specific gravity, total sugar, antioxidant and ethanol content were assessed weekly for 3 weeks. The sensory characteristics of the plantain wine were evaluated using standard methods. The total viable count ranged from 3.90 to 7.27 log CFU/ml, the mould and yeast count ranged from 5.00 to 6.49 log CFU/ml, the lactic acid bacterial ranged from 6.04 to 6.97 log CFU/ml, pH ranged from 3.68 to 4.275, TTA ranged from 0.68 to 1.59, specific gravity ranged from 1.01 to 1.02, total sugar ranged from 25.97 to 90.98, antioxidant ranged from 45.63 to 53.73 ethanol content ranged from 12.00 to 24.65 respectively. This study concludes that the addition of ginger to plantain wine influences the microbial characteristics, sensory properties and antioxidative activity during storage. • Overripe plantains fermented into wine to reduce waste and add value. • Three wine samples with varied ingredients were analyzed for quality. • pH ranged from 3.68 to 4.275 • Antioxidant activity ranged from 45.63 to 53.73 % across samples. • Ginger extract improved microbial stability and sensory attributes.