FET-3339: Cereal Technology

& Engineering

Zoheb Hasan Fahad

Lecturer
State University of Bangladesh
 Chapter-05
Structure and Composition of Cereal
Grain
• Wheat
• Rice
• Corn
• Barely
• Oat
• Rye
• Sorghum
 Corn
• Corn or maize: Zea mays L.
• Corn apparently originated in Mexico and
spread northward to Canada and southward
to Argentina.
• The corn seed is a single fruit called the
kernel.
• The maize kernel is the largest of the cereal
grains (≈ 10 times larger than small-grain
cereals) with an average weight of 300 mg.
• It includes an embryo, endosperm, aleurone,
and pericarp.
 Corn
• The pericarp is a thin outer layer that has a
protection role for the endosperm and
embryo.
• Pericarp thickness ranges from 25 to 140
µm among genotypes.
• Pericarp adheres tightly to the outer
surface of the aleurone layer and is
thought to impart semipermeable
properties to the corn kernel.
 Corn
• A waxy cutin layer that retards
moisture exchange covers an outer
layer of cells, the epidermis. The
endosperm usually comprises 82–
84% of the kernel dry weight and 86–
89% starch by weight.
• The germ is composed of the embryo
and the scutellum.
• The scutellum acts as the nutritive
organ for the embryo, and the germ
stores nutrients and hormones that
are necessary for the initial stage of
germination.
 Barley
• Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) also belongs to the grass
family and is one of the major ancient world’s crops.
• It contributes to the human food, malt products, ranks the
top ten crops, and is fourth among the cereals.
• currently its primary use is in the brewing industry and as
animal feed. In recent times, approximately two-thirds of
the barley crop has been used for animal feed, one-third
for malting and approximately 2 % directly for food.
• Barely is an excellent source of dietary fibre and, in
particular, -glucan.
 Barley
• The husk is usually pale yellow or buff and is
made up of four types of cells, which are dead at
maturity.
• The caryopsis is located in the husk and the
pericarp is fused to the seed coat or testa. Within
the seed coat the largest tissue is the starchy
endosperm that is bonded to the aleurone layer.
• The embryo is located at the base of the grain.
 Rye
• Rye (Secale cereale) has been cultivated in Europe since ancient
times and is genetically related to wheat and barley.
• Rye has two species: S. fragile and S. cereale. Rye is used mostly
in bread making.
• The mature rye grain is a caryopsis, dry, one-seeded fruit, grayish
yellow.
• rye is considerably more winter hardy than wheat and produces
economically viable yields on poor, sandy soils where other crops
fail to grow.
• Rye accounts for only 1 % of total world cereal production because
it is generally related to local food production or on-farm use.
 Rye
• It is grown globally, but its cultivation is predominately concentrated in Poland, Germany,
western Russia and Ukraine where rye breads are most popular.
• Rye is characterized by high levels of lysine and hemicelluloses such as pentosans
compared to wheat, thus significantly influencing the functional properties of rye flour in
bread-making.
• In more detail, hemicelluloses prevent protein aggregation into gluten which is required
for the development of the visco-elastic properties of wheat bread dough.
• The rye grain ranks second in importance after wheat for the production of breads (black
bread, crisp bread, pumpernickel and sourdough bread), and it is also important in the
distillation of rye whisky and as livestock feeds.
 Rye
• The rye caryopsis is arranged in pairs alternately on a
zigzag shaped rachis.
• The rye kernel is more slender, pointed and longer than
those of wheat and barley
• Rye kernels are composed of three main parts – bran,
endosperm and germ. The starchy endosperm accounts for
86.5 % of the kernel, bran (pericarp and testa) makes up 10
%, and the germ (embryo and scutellum) represents 3.5 %
of the grain
• The starchy endosperm of the rye grain is softer than that of
wheat (durum and soft wheat); thus, the floury contents of
the rye kernels are readily released upon milling.
 Oats
• Oats (Avena sativa L. )are an important source of livestock feed
worldwide, both as forage and as a nutritious grain.
• Among the cereal grain crops, oats were considered the primary
protein source in feed rations until they were replaced by soybeans.
• They are also a good source of fibre, fat and minerals.
• Food uses for oats include oat bran, oat meal, oat flour and oat
flakes which are mainly used for breakfast cereals. Porridge, hot
cereals, bread, biscuits, infant food, muesli and granola bars are
a few examples of food products produced from oats.
• The valuable physiological and nutritional attributes of oat products
(e.g. lowering blood cholesterol, reducing risk of colorectal cancer
by -glucans and other dietary fibre components, high tocopherol
and natural antioxidant level) have generated an increased demand
for oats in human nutrition
 Oats
• The oat fruit is a caryopsis (Fig. 7.1) furrowed on the side opposite to
the embryo.
• The caryopsis (or groat) is tightly covered by a hull or husk which
developed from the lemma and palea. The hull represents about 30–40
% of the total grain weight and mainly comprises cellulose and
hemicellulose with a lesser amount of lignin or related phenolic
compounds.
• Inside the protective hull, the caryopsis shows similar appearance to
the other common cereals such as wheat and barley, although the oat
caryopsis is generally longer and more slender than that of wheat or
barley.
• The caryopsis is composed of three main parts – bran, endosperm and
germ. The germ accounts for 3 % of the caryopsis weight, the bran is
38–40 % and the starchy endosperm is 58–60 %.
 Chemical Composition and Nutrients
• Wheat has a higher protein content than other cereals: The protein content varies from 7
to 22% depending on the variety. However, because of low availability of some essential
amino acids in wheat (see Table 2), its biological value requires addition or
supplementation with other amino acids.
• Carbohydrates are the major chemical composition of the corn. However, the corn kernel
is more than a rich source of carbohydrates, it is a source of enzymes for the study of
biosynthesis, and genetic markers for genetic, biochemical, and genetic engineering
studies. The protein content of the corn shows that it is poor in essential amino acids,
such as tryptophan, lysine, and threonine, valine, and sulfur amino acids.
• The corn has only 4.4% oil (dry basis), but the amount of corn oil production is enormous,
even though it is not considered as an oil seed crop. Triglycerides are the major
composition (98.8%) of the refined commercial corn oil. Corn has a high level of
unsaturated fatty acid (linoleic acid).
 Chemical Composition and Nutrients
• The average brown rice protein content ranges from 4.3 to 18.2% with a mean value of
9.2%. Protein is the second most important rice component after carbohydrates. The
outer tissues of the rice grain are rich in water-soluble proteins (albumin) and also salt-
soluble proteins (globulin), but the endosperm is rich in glutelin.
• The starch composition of the rye flour is mostly the same as wheat flour. However, the
individual granules are different in size and also the α-amylase activity in the mature
kernel is high and, therefore, the viscosity of the dough is lower than wheat. Rye proteins
are considered superior to other cereals in biological value; rye has a higher proportion of
water- and salt-soluble proteins compared with the other cereals that have an effect in
improving the amount of the essential amino acid lysine.
• The unsaturated fatty acid content of rye is very high and is characterized by a higher
linolenic acid content than found in other cereal grain.
Chemical Composition and Nutrients
 Quality Control and Flour Testing
• Testing protocols and acceptable degrees of reproducibility (agreement between
laboratories) and repeatability (agreement between replicate determinations by the same
operator using the same equipment) have been established, usually through collaborative
testing, by various standardizing organizations.
• Most countries have national standards organizations (e.g., the British Standards
Institute)
• International standards are also produced by, for example,
• The International Association of Cereal Science and Technology (ICC),
• International Organization for Standardization (ISO),
• American Association of Cereal Chemists International (AACCI),
• American Society of Agricultural
• Biological Engineers and Association of Official Analytical Chemists
International.
 Quality Control and Flour Testing
Sampling

• For valid comparisons to be made it is necessary to observe proper

sampling procedures (ICC 130, AACC 64) and normalize results of most
tests to a constant moisture basis. Either a dry-matter basis or a 14%
moisture basis is usually adopted.
 Quality Control and Flour Testing
Parameters dependent on the nature of the grains milled
1. Protein content
Protein content of whole grains, meals and flours may be calculated from nitrogen contents
determined by the Kjeldahl method (AACCI 46), in which organic matter is digested with
hot concentrated acid in the presence of a catalyst. Ammonia, liberated by addition of an
excess of alkali to the reaction product, is separated by distillation and then estimated by
titration.
2. Sedimentation tests
Sedimentation tests provide a useful indication of the suitability of a flour (it is more usually
performed on a ground wheat as opposed to a true flour) for breadmaking. The Zeleny test
(Pinkney et al., 1957) (AACC 56–60, ICC 116)
 Quality Control and Flour Testing
3. Enzyme tests
One of the most important enzymes influencing flour quality is alpha-amylase. Its activity
may be determined directly, using the method of Farrand (1964) or McCleary and Sheehan
(1987), or indirectly, as a result of its solubilizing effect on starch, leading to a reduction
in paste viscosity. The most widely adopted method uses the Falling Number
apparatus to detect starch liquefaction in a heated aqueous suspension of flour or (more
usually) ground grain (ICC Standard Method 107, AACC 56–81B).
4. Heat-damage test for gluten
The effect of overheating on gluten is measured directly by a method introduced by Hay and
Every (1990). Described as the glutenin turbidity test, the procedure measures the loss in
solubility of the fraction of glutenins normally soluble in acetic acid. Dilute acetic acid
extracts are precipitated by addition of alkaline ethanol and the precipitate is quantified by
spectrophotometric measurement of turbidity, allowing the degree of damage to be
assessed by comparison with standards.
 Quality Control and Flour Testing
5. Pigmentation
The yellow colour of durum semolinas is highly valued. Under ICC 152 the carotenoid
pigments are extracted at room temperature with water saturated butanol for photometric
evaluation of optical density of the clear filtrate against a β-carotene standard.
6. Machinability test
In adopting a test for bread wheats eligible for intervention price support, the EU has not
standardized a breadmaking test but instead has defined flour of breadmaking quality as
flour which produces a dough which does not ‘stick’ to the blades or the bowl of the mixer
in which the dough is mixed, nor to the moulding apparatus.
7. Extraneous matter test (‘filth test’)
The rodent hair and insect fragment count in flour is determined by digesting the flour with
acid and adding the cooled digest to petrol in a separating funnel. The hair and insect
fragments are trapped at the petrol/water interface, and can be collected, identified and
quantified microscopically.
 Quality Control and Flour Testing
8. Wet gluten Content

The wet gluten content is a measure of the amount of swollen gluten in

the wheat flour, which can be determined by forming a paste from the
flour sample and washing it out. Mechanical determination of the wet
gluten content of wheat flour (ICC Standard 137/1) is carried out with
Glutomatic equipment.

According to this method, the paste is prepared and washed automatically

inside the machine. The result has to be converted to correspond to a
flour moisture content of 14%.
 Quality Control and Flour Testing
It is possible to calculate the gluten index, which is determined by the
proportion of gluten passing through the sieve. The higher the proportion
of gluten that has not passed through the sieve, the higher the index
and the better the quality of the measured gluten. Flours with a gluten
index of more than 95 indicate strong gluten characteristics (too strong
for bread making), whereas low values (up to 30) indicate weak gluten
characteristics (Kulkarni et al. 1987). Flour with a wet gluten content of
more than 27 in Europe is suitable for breadmaking applications.
 Quality Control and Flour Testing
Tests for characteristics dependent mainly on processing conditions
1. Ash test, BS4317 part 10
The ash test (incineration of the material in a furnace at a specified temperature, under prescribed
conditions, for a specific sample mass and the weighing of the resultant ash) is widely used as a
measure of milling refinement because pure endosperm yields relatively little ash, whereas
bran, aleurone and germ yield much more.
1. Grade colour
The grade colour test, performed for example with the Kent-Jones and Martin colour grader, can be
used to estimate the degree of contamination of white flour with bran particles. In the test, the
intensity of light in the 530 nm region reflected from a standardized flour/water paste in a glass
cell is compared with that reflected from a paste of a reference flour.
 Quality Control and Flour Testing
3. Tristimulus methods
Use of an instrument designed to simulate the visual response of the human eye has found favour in
many applications as an alternative to the grade colour system. An instrument (typically either
Minolta or Hunter) measures reflectance spectra from a white light source and uses complex
mathematical transforms to produce values in three arbitrary spectral ranges. Users can derive a
series of indices to suit their specific needs (e.g., lightness, yellowness, blueness, greenness, redness,
or other colour indices) by selecting from the measured colour space values.
4. Damaged starch
The amount of starch that is mechanically damaged influences a flour’s ability to absorb water. The
level of damaged starch in flour is estimated by methods which measure either the digestibility or
the extractability of the starch. Digestibility-based methods measure the amount of hydrolysis
effected by added amylase enzymes; extractability-based methods measure the amount of amylose
present in an aqueous extract by its reaction with iodine in potassium iodide.
 Quality Control and Flour Testing
5. Particle size analysis
Test sieving by hand or Rotap sieve shakers tends to be somewhat irreproducible for flour, but the
Alpine airjet sieve, in which negative pressure below the sieve assists particles through the mesh
and clears the mesh with reversed airjets, gives more reproducible analyses. Laser-diffraction-based
instruments, and now visual imaging instruments (such as the Horiba Camsizer, which uses multiple
high-speed cameras), provide a means of making rapid particle size and shape comparisons among
flours .
6. Physical tests on doughs and slurries
The Chopin Alveograph (AACC 54-30) assesses the ability of a dough in which gluten is developed
to retain gas. Air pressure inflates a bubble of dough until it bursts; the instrument continuously
records the air pressure and the time that elapses before the dough breaks.
 Storage and Transportation of Flour
• Flour should be stored in a closed atmosphere In these conditions flour acidity increases
owing to accumulation of linoleic and linolenic acids, which are slowly oxidized;
reduction of disulphide groups is slow, and there is little increase in sulphydryl groups (–
SH); solubility of gluten protein decreases, and as a result changes in baking strength are
only minor.
• The harshness of treatment to be expected during filling and handling influences the
number of plys in the walls of the chosen bags. Using single-spout packers approximately
300–350 bags/h can be filled. Using multispout packers, with up to eight spouts, 600–800
bags/h are possible.
 Storage and Transportation of Flour
• The hazards to flour in storage include those to wheat in storage (mould and bacterial
attack, insect and rodent infestation), and also oxidative rancidity and eventual
deterioration of baking quality. Thus facility cleanliness and pest control are critical.

• Freedom from insect infestation during storage can be ensured only if the flour is free
from insect life when put into store and if the store itself is free from infestation. Good
housekeeping in the mill and the milling of clean grain should ensure that the milled
flour contains no live insects, larvae or eggs, but as a precautionary measure flour is often
passed through an entoleter before being bagged or conveyed to bulk bins.
 Storage and Transportation of Flour
• The entoleter (BP No. 965267) is a machine consisting of a rotor rapidly rotating within a
fixed housing. The flour is fed in centrally and flung with considerable impact against the
casing. At normal speeds of operation (2900rev/min for flour) the machine effectively
destroys all forms of insect life and mites, including eggs. The insect fragments, however,
are not removed from the flour by the entoleter.
• The optimum moisture content for the storage of flour must be interpreted in relation to
the length of storage envisaged and the prevailing ambient temperature and R.h.
(Relative humidity), remembering that flour will gain or lose moisture to the surrounding
atmosphere unless packed in hermetically sealed containers. For use within a few weeks,
flour can be packed at 14% moisture content, but at moisture contents higher than 13%
mustiness due to mould growth may develop, even if the flour does not become visibly
mouldy. At moisture contents lower than 12% the risk of fat oxidation and development
of rancidity increases.
 Storage and Transportation of Flour
• The expected shelf life of plain (i.e., nonself-raising) white flour packed in paper bags,
stored in cool, dry conditions and protected from infestation can be up to 2–3years. The
rate of increase in acidity increases with temperature and with fall in flour grade (i.e., as
the ash residue increases). Hence the shelf life of brown and wholemeal flours is shorter
than that of white flour.
• Stored at 17°C, the shelf life of brown flour of 85% extraction rate and of wholemeal
(100% extraction rate) is closely related to the moisture content and temperature. Brown
flour, for instance, should keep for 9 months at 14% moisture content, 4–6months at 14.5%
moisture content and 2–3months at 15.5% moisture content. For wholemeal stored under
the most favourable conditions, a shelf life of 3 months may be expected, or, if the
product has been entoleted, up to 12 months.
 Bulk storage and delivery of flour
• Storage of flour in bulk bins and delivery in bulk containers (truck, rail) have advantages
over storage and delivery in bags. Although construction costs of bulk-storage facilities
(bins, air-handling systems, etc.) are high, the running costs are somewhat lower because
human labour is much reduced, warehouse space is better utilized and material transfer
is much more efficient.
• The capacity of bins for storing flour in bulk is often 70–100 tonne or more. Packing
pressures inside the bin increases with bin area, not with bin height; a bin area of 5.6 m2 is
often satisfactory. Normally modern bins are constructed of metal, and are mounted on
load cells (scales) for bin inventory, although sometimes concrete is still used.
• The inner surfaces must be smooth to allow stock to slide down the walls readily. Steel
bin walls are usually coated with shellac varnish or other coating, and lower parts may be
painted with a low-friction polyurethane paint or coating. Concrete surfaces are ground
and coated with several coats of sodium silicate wash to provide a seal.
Bulk storage and delivery of flour
Bulk storage and delivery of flour
 Bulk storage and delivery of flour
• Bins are often filled pneumatically (using dilute-phase transport) and emptied using fluidizing
dischargers which use 0.8–1.1 m3/min of low-pressure air (20–70 kN/ m2) to fluidize the flour,
causing it to behave as a liquid and flow down a reduced gradient to the outlet, or active bin bottoms
(rotating bottoms with paddles).
• Mechanical (worm- or screw-type conveyors) and vibratory dischargers may also be used to assist
discharge of flour from bins. When flour and air are present in appropriate proportions there
is a risk of dust explosions if a source of ignition is present; thus in all flour storing, conveying and
handling situations it is essential to avoid sources of ignition and provide adequate dust-control
systems
• Flour is typically conveyed via ‘dilute-phase’ transfer, where the air:solids ratio is> 2.0, air velocities
can be up to 8000ft/min and transport capacity per pipeline can often reach up to 50t/h. To pick up
the flour particles, suspend them in the air stream and transport the flour to a desired location (e.g.,
unload a rail car, transfer to a bin, transfer to a process, load a rail car), an airspeed between 3600
and 4100 ft/min is required (for whole wheat the required air speed is between 5000 and
5500ft/min).