Development of A Small-Scale Indigenous Shea Butter Processing Plant in Nigeria: A Review Gana IM 1 *, Shehu AA 2 and Balami AA 2 1 Department of Agricultural and Bio-environmental Engineering, Nigeria 2 Department of Agricultural and Bioresources Engineering, Nigeria Introduction The increase awareness of shea butter’s socio-economic and health benefits, as well as its increase demand globally as an important ingredient in personal care and edible products [1] has contributed immensely in increasing the number of its processors both at household and small-scale levels. In most of the developing countries like Nigeria shea butter is mostly processed using traditional manual method. This traditional method of extraction of shea butter from the kernel had been reported by Aviara et al. [2] to involve a series of unit operations. These operations include shelling or cracking of the shell using stone or by gently pounding the nuts with a mortar or pestle. According to, Gana et al. [3], in Nigeria, mostly shea nuts shelling is been done manually by rural women and children, which is time consuming and tedious. Also, the locally available machines are not having a cleaning unit, and this resulted to manual cleaning of the shelled nut. The shelled kernel is then broken into small pieces for roasting. This is done using either two stones or piston and mortal, it is also very tedious and time consuming [4]. Crushed shea nut pieces are roasted using cylindrical container made of mild steel with handle on open fire. This is where the slight smoky smell of traditional shea butter originates. According to Shehu et al. [5] most of the existing equipment for processing of shea butter especially the roasters is made of mild steel materials. The mild steel can easily become rusted and cause contaminant of the product. Metal particles form as a result of the rusting settlement at the bottom of the equipment, thus causing contamination of the product. Smoke from open fire can result in contamination of the Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAHS), some of which are said to be highly carcinogenic [6]. In addition, open fire roasting has the disadvantage of producing burnt crushed kernels which in turn leads to black shea oil formation and loss of vital and essential nutrients [7]. After the roasting, the roasted shea kernels can cool down for at least 30min or at most 1 hour, before being milled in a milling machine into a fine paste. The next stage is the mixing or oil extraction, this is the most complex operation in the production process. It involves the following stages; mixing the paste with water, beating the paste with a palm of the hand, adding further small quantities of water, and gathering the floating fat. Crimson Publishers Wings to the Research Review Article * 1 Corresponding author: Gana IM, Department of Agricultural and Bio- environmental Engineering, Nigeria Submission: July 05, 2019 Published: August 30, 2019 Volume 4 - Issue 3 How to cite this article: Gana IM, Shehu AA, Balami AA. Development of A Small- Scale Indigenous Shea Butter Processing Plant in Nigeria: A Review. Nov Tech Nutri Food Sci. 4(3).NTNF.000588.2019. DOI: 10.31031/NTNF.2019.04.000588 Copyright@ Gana IM, This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited. ISSN: 2640-9208 338 Novel Techniques in Nutrition and Food Science Abstract The increase demand of shea butter and its product globally has contributed immensely in its traditional household and small-scale production in countries where it is present. This production method is laborious, time consuming and tedious. Also, the shea butter obtained is of low grade and quality as result of contamination from either the type of equipment used, or the processing method adopted. In other to address all these shortcomings a small-scale mechanized shea butter production plant was developed. The plant is made up of the following machines; sheller, crusher, steam roaster, miller and mixer. The development of this plant has mechanized the major unit operations of shea butter production. It has made easier and faster processing of shea butter and thus, serves as a training center for local processors and a catalyst for the development of shea butter industry in Nigeria. It can bring improvement in the productivity of the shea butter to meet up with local and international demands. The developed plant produced 0.45kg of shea butter from 1kg of shea nut and processed 12.5kg of shea paste in 10min. It has input and throughput capacities of 600kg of shea nut and 270kg of shea butter respectively, in 8hours operational time per day. The total cost of establishment of the plant is $2650. Keywords: Crushing; Milling; Mixing; Shea butter; Shelling; Plant; Roasting