Production and comparative evaluation of leather products from pawpaw ( Carica papaya ) and banana ( Musa acuminata ) fruit pulp

Food wastage as a result of postharvest losses is responsible for about one-third of the entire annual harvest wasted world over. Postharvest losses occur due to the lack of processing and preservation technologies of the surplus harvest, as well as the unavailability of properly trained personnel. Therefore, in the bid to minimize food wastage from postharvest losses, some perishable tropical fruits were processed into fruit leathers. Fresh banana and pawpaw fruits were used to produce banana leather, pawpaw leather, and composite (banana & pawpaw) leather. The fresh fruits were washed, peeled, deseeded, sliced, mashed, and dried in an oven to produce flexible leather sheets of the fruits. The fresh fruit pulps and the fruit leathers were analysed for nutritional (proximate, vitamin and mineral) compositions and sensory qualities using standard methods. The results showed that significant differences (p