ABSTRACT
Size reduction is a basic food processing activity and commercial tomato-pepper mills for reducing vegetables and soaked grains are common in Nigeria. A survey of the types and operational problems of tomato-pepper mills in Sabon-Gari Local Government Area (LGA) revealed a neglect of the commercial tomato-pepper mill in terms of design improvement. The report also highlighted some technical deficiencies and hygiene problems with the mills surveyed. This work, which aimed at alleviating the problems of the commercial tomatopepper mill, involved the development of a new mill which was produced and evaluated technically. An assessment of the type and level of contamination of materials ground on the commercial mill was also undertaken. Results show that the new mill has a higher benefitcost ratio and requires less energy for milling than the commercial mill. In terms of milling capacity and the fineness and uniformity of ground material, the new mill compares favourably with the commercial mill. The microbiological tests indicate that bacteria and fungi are the major contaminants of tomato/pepper mixture and that the commercial mills contribute significantly (P>0.05) to the bacteria load of ground produce. Although the viable bacteria counts are below the FAO recommended level of 1 x 106, the levels are relatively high and call for caution to minimize the contamination load