B. N. Dar

Storage stability and quality assessment of processed cereal brans

Quality improvement of cereal brans, a health promoting ingredient for functional foods is the emerging research concept due to their low shelf stability and presence of non-nutrient components. A study was conducted to evaluate the storage quality of processed milling industry byproducts so that these can be potentially utilized as a dietary fibre source. Different cereal brans (wheat, rice, barley and oat) were processed by dry, wet, microwave heating, extrusion cooking and chemical methods at variable conditions. Processed brans were stored in high density polyethylene (HDPE) pouches at ambient and refrigeration temperature. Quality assessments (moisture, free fatty acids, water activity and physical quality) of brans were done up to six months, at one month intervals. Free fatty acid content, moisture and water activity of the cereal brans remained stable during the entire storage period. Among treatments, extrusion processing is the most effective for stability. Processing treatments and storage temperature have the positive effect on extending the shelf life of all cereal brans. Therefore, processed cereal brans can be used as a dietary fortificant for the development of value added food products.

Optimization of process for reduction of antinutritional factors in edible cereal brans

Reduction of various antinutritional factors in cereal brans by different treatments (microwave heating, dry heating and wet heating) were studied. There was significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) in reduction of antinutritional factors of treated cereal brans except for dry heating at low temperature. Microwave heating at 2450 MHz for 2.5 min resulted in 53.85%, 57.21%, 65.00% and 100% reduction in phytic acid, polyphenols, oxalates and saponins, respectively. Wet heating resulted in maximum reduction in trypsin inhibitor activity (83.07%) at 110 °C for 25 min. Processing treatment resulted in increase in bulk density and slight darkening of the brans. The most effective method of detoxifying most of the toxicants was microwave heating for 2.5 min, and therefore it could be exploited for making treated brans an ideal source for potential food application.

Quality Assessment and Physicochemical Characteristics of Bran Enriched Chapattis

Cereal brans singly and in combination were blended at varying levels (5 and 10%) for development of Chapattis. Cereal bran enriched Chapattis were assessed for quality and physicochemical characteristics. On the basis of quality assessment, 10% enrichment level for Chapatti was the best. Moisture content, water activity, and free fatty acids remained stable during the study period. Quality assessment and physicochemical characteristics of bran enriched Chapattis carried out revealed that dough handling and puffing of bran enriched Chapattis prepared by 5 and 10% level of bran supplementation did not vary significantly. All types of bran enriched Chapattis except rice bran enriched Chapattis showed nonsticky behavior during dough handling. Bran enriched Chapattis exhibited full puffing character during preparation. The sensory attributes showed that both 5 and 10% bran supplemented Chapattis were acceptable.

Total Phenolic Content and Antioxidant Activity of Cereal Bran Enriched Ready to Eat Breakfast Cereal Porridge

Background: In the current study, porridges were analyzed for antioxidant properties (total phenolic content-TPC, DPPH radical scavenging activity-DPPH-RSA and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity-TEAC) extracted with acetone, methanol and hexane under conventional and microwave assisted extraction. Methods: Two extraction methods (traditional and microwave assisted) with different solvents (acetone, hexane and methanol) were followed for potential extraction of antioxidants. Results: The effect of system solvents and different types of brans employed for the precise quantification of antioxidant properties showed that for various types of bran enriched porridge; methanol gave the highest yield of total phenolic content followed by acetone and hexane under both extraction methods. The level of supplementation of brans increased the total phenolic content of porridge significantly (P≤0.05). Methanolic extracts of all cereal bran enriched porridge showed the highest values for percent inhibition of DPPH-RSA. With the ABTS method (TEAC), wheat bran enriched methanolic extracts showed the highest values (up to 8.88 TEµmole/g). Conclusion: Bran enriched porridge showed high phenolic content having high antioxidant activity, which could be serve a potential ingredient for consumer health. Moreover, methanol was found to be effective in solvent extraction of phenolic compounds.