A nutritional and organoleptic assessment of the meat of the giant African land snail (Archchatina maginata Swainson) compared to the meat of other livestockr

Abstract

The nutritional quality and organoleptic characteristics of the meat of the Giant African Land Snail (Archachatina marginata) was compared to the meat of the conventional livestock species (beef, rabbit and chicken). Each of the meat samples was processed using three different cooking methods (i.e. boiling, frying and barbecuing) and their organoleptic and sensory characteristics were evaluated (appearance and colour, juiciness, taste and general acceptability) using a 7-point descriptive Hedonic Scale. Crude protein value was lowest in the chicken meat (18.3%), slightly high in rabbit meat (20.0%) and beef (19.6%) and was highest in snail meat (20.5%), showing that snail meat is a high quality protein food with the crude protein content higher than those of conventional livestock. But the meat of rabbit, chicken and beef were highly accepted for their appearance and colour, juiciness and taste when boiled, fried and barbecued (organoleptic and sensory characteristics); whereas snail meat had a significantly lower acceptance (p<0.05) among the respondents. Therefore, the consumption of snail meat in Minna, Niger State of Nigeria is governed more by cultural bias than by social status or nutritional quality; hence, a massive awareness campaign on the nutritional and health benefits of snail meat is needed.