Consumer acceptability of organic household cleaners (Abrasive and Polish) made from locally available materials

Abstract

Background: The commercial household cleaners available in the market are chemical laden and unaffordable with the possibility of putting the health of homemakers and housekeepers at risk as a result of the danger of exposure to toxic chemicals. The aim of this study therefore was to produce organic household cleaners such as abrasive and polish from locally available materials. Method: The study was carried out in Omuku, Rivers State. The population was made up of all 182 housekeepers and working mothers across the five school of the Federal College (Technical) of Education and 15 hotels. The stratified random sampling technique was used to sample 102 working mothers and housekeepers. Household cleaners such as abrasive was produced locally and organically from the mixture of pawpaw and sand paper leaves, palm cone ash, lemon, tangerine and orange rinds and egg shell while polish was made from aloe Vera gel, coconut oil and alcohol. The household cleaners were subjected to sensory acceptability. A nine Point Hedonic Scale questionnaire was also constructed and administered to the respondents for data collection. Mean rating was used to analyze the research questions and sensory evaluation and Z-test was used to analyze the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance.Results: The result of the study showed that the production of locally produced polish is acceptable in terms of quality to a high extent. The locally produced abrasives were also acceptable in terms of quality but were not acceptable with respect to odour and colour. The acceptability of the locally produced abrasive and polish also relied on the quality, colour and odour of the product. Conclusion: This study therefore contributes to knowledge by developing new recipes for the production of non-toxic and organic household cleaners using local available materials which will help in ensuring a clean and sustainable family living.