Recent Advances in Grain Processing and Milling Engineering

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Grain".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 January 2023) | Viewed by 13261

Special Issue Editors

College of Food Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing 210023, China
Interests: whole grain foods; natural polymer
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
College of Food Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing, China
Interests: carbohydrate; starch-based materials; food nanotechnology; food chemistry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
Interests: cereal quality evaluation; quality control; grain nutritional attributes
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cereal grains represent a major component of the human diet worldwide. Grain processing is the process of removing impurities from raw grain, regulating moisture, hulling, peeling, or grinding, and, finally, processing into granular or powdery finished grain that meets different quality standards.  In the past 10 years, hundreds of R&D achievements have been made in grain processing, especially in flour milling engineering. The research efforts also involved the development of staple foods, snack foods, bakery foods, healthy foods, and baby foods, etc., using above processed grain as major raw materials and related food processing equipment. All these contribute greatly to effective use of cereal resources, nutritional value, and structure of the diet, and health level and physical quality of the population. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to publish the latest finding related to grain processing, milling engineering, and cereal grain-based food development to improve the understanding of this everlasting research area and bring new opportunities to the industry.

Prof. Dr. Xiaozhi Tang
Dr. Zhenjiong Wang
Dr. Yingquan Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • grain processing
  • milling
  • cereal grain-based foods
  • staple foods
  • snack foods
  • bakery foods
  • healthy foods
  • baby foods

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 2006 KiB  
Article
Compositional Traits of Grains and Groats of Barley, Oat and Spelt Grown at Organic and Conventional Fields
by Lovro Sinkovič, Marianna Rakszegi, Barbara Pipan and Vladimir Meglič
Foods 2023, 12(5), 1054; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12051054 - 01 Mar 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 6123
Abstract
Barley, oats, or spelt consumed as minimally processed whole grains provide several health benefits, especially when grown under organic field management conditions. Therefore, the effects of organic and conventional farming on the compositional traits (protein, fibre, fat, and ash) of barley, oat, and [...] Read more.
Barley, oats, or spelt consumed as minimally processed whole grains provide several health benefits, especially when grown under organic field management conditions. Therefore, the effects of organic and conventional farming on the compositional traits (protein, fibre, fat, and ash) of barley, oat, and spelt grains and groats were compared using three winter barley varieties (‘Anemone’, ‘BC Favorit’, and ‘Sandra’), two spring oat varieties (‘Max’ and ‘Noni’), and three spelt varieties (‘Ebners Rotkorn’, ‘Murska bela’, and ‘Ostro’). Groats were produced from harvested grains by a combination of threshing, winnowing, and brushing/polishing. Multitrait analysis showed significant differences between species, field management practices, and fractions, with clear compositional differences between organic and conventional spelt. Barley and oat groats had a higher thousand kernel weight (TKW) and β-glucan, but lower crude fibre, fat, and ash contents than the grains. The composition of the grains of the different species differed significantly for more traits (TKW, fibre, fat, ash, and β-glucan) than that of the groats (TKW and fat), while field management only affected the fibre content of the groats and the TKW, ash, and β-glucan contents of the grains. The TKW, protein, and fat contents of the different species differed significantly under both conventional and organic growing conditions, while the TKW and fibre contents of grains and groats differed under both systems. The caloric value of the final products of barley, oats, and spelt groats ranged from 334–358 kcal/100 g. This information will be useful for not only the processing industry, but also for breeders and farmers, and last, but not least, for consumers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Grain Processing and Milling Engineering)
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17 pages, 5130 KiB  
Article
Novel Method of Increased Efficiency Corn Drying on a Fixed Bed by Condensation
by Daping Fu, Wenfu Wu, Guiying Wang, Hong Xu, Feng Han and Zhe Liu
Foods 2023, 12(5), 1027; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12051027 - 28 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1214
Abstract
Exhaust air recycling is a simple and commonly used technique to save energy when using a dryer. The fixed-bed drying test device with increased efficiency by condensation is a clean and energy-saving drying test device developed by combining exhaust air recycling and condensation [...] Read more.
Exhaust air recycling is a simple and commonly used technique to save energy when using a dryer. The fixed-bed drying test device with increased efficiency by condensation is a clean and energy-saving drying test device developed by combining exhaust air recycling and condensation dehumidification technology. In this paper, through comparisons with or without exhaust air circulation using the single factor test of drying process parameters and the response surface test of corn drying on this test device to investigate the energy-saving effect and drying characteristics resulting from the novel drying method of increased efficiency by condensation. We drew the following main conclusions: (1) increased efficiency drying by condensation resulted in an energy savings of 32–56% compared with the conventional open hot air drying; and (2) during the increased efficiency corn drying by condensation, the mean energy and exergy efficiencies were within 31.65–51.26% and 41.69–63.52%, respectively, when the air temperature was in the 30–55 °C range, and they were 24.96–65.28% and 30.40–84.90%, respectively, when the air passed through the grain layer at 0.2–0.6 m/s; both of these increased with increasing air temperature, and decreased with increasing air velocity. These conclusions may constitute an important reference for investigating the energy-saving drying process of increased efficiency by condensation and developing relevant energy-saving drying equipment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Grain Processing and Milling Engineering)
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22 pages, 3749 KiB  
Article
Formulation of a Synergistic Enzyme Cocktail for Controlled Degradation of Sorghum Grain Pericarp
by N. U. Sruthi, Pavuluri Srinivasa Rao, Sarita Jane Bennett and Rewati Raman Bhattarai
Foods 2023, 12(2), 306; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12020306 - 09 Jan 2023
Viewed by 1473
Abstract
Sorghum is one of the major grains produced worldwide for food and fodder, owing to its nutritional profile advantages. However, the utilisation of whole grain sorghum as an ingredient in conventional food formulations is limited due to its poor digestibility, which requires the [...] Read more.
Sorghum is one of the major grains produced worldwide for food and fodder, owing to its nutritional profile advantages. However, the utilisation of whole grain sorghum as an ingredient in conventional food formulations is limited due to its poor digestibility, which requires the removal of the outer fibrous layers. Grain breakage and loss of essential nutrients also disadvantage traditional milling practices. Using carbohydrate degrading enzymes to hydrolyse the grain pericarp is a novel approach to biopolishing, where selective degradation of the pericarp layers occurs without adversely affecting the nutrient profile. A collective synergism of enzymes has been proven to cause effective hydrolysis compared to individual enzymes due to the complex presence of non-starch polysaccharides in the grain’s outer layers, which comprise a variety of sugars that show specific degradation with respect to each enzyme. The present study aimed to formulate such an enzyme cocktail with xylanase, cellulase, and pectinase in different proportions for hydrolysing sorghum grain pericarp by determining the yield of specific sugars in the pericarp extract after a certain period of incubation. The results showed that the xylanase enzyme has a major effect on the grain bran composition compared to cellulase and pectinase; however, a synergistic mixture yielded more hydrolysed sugars and anti-nutrients in the extract compared to each of the enzymes individually. The results were confirmed by morphological and crystallinity studies of the soaked grain. Compared to conventional water-soaked samples, grains soaked in a cocktail with 66.7% xylanase, 16.7% cellulase, and 16.7% pectinase had visibly thinner and more degraded fibre layers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Grain Processing and Milling Engineering)
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14 pages, 2525 KiB  
Article
Effects of Wheat Tempering with Slightly Acidic Electrolyzed Water on the Microbiota and Flour Characteristics
by Mingqian Qin, Yingwu Fu, Ning Li, Yinyin Zhao, Baowei Yang, Li Wang and Shaohui Ouyang
Foods 2022, 11(24), 3990; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11243990 - 09 Dec 2022
Viewed by 1572
Abstract
Slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW) was prepared and used as wheat tempering water. This study explored the impacts of tempering with SAEW on microbial load and diversity and quality properties of wheat flour. As SAEW volume ratio increased, the residual level of total [...] Read more.
Slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW) was prepared and used as wheat tempering water. This study explored the impacts of tempering with SAEW on microbial load and diversity and quality properties of wheat flour. As SAEW volume ratio increased, the residual level of total plate counts (TPC) and mould/yeast counts (MYC) decreased dramatically (p < 0.05). Based on genomics analysis, bacterial 16S rRNA gene and fungal ITS1 gene region were performed to characterize the changes in microbial communities’ composition and diversity in response to SAEW treatment. SAEW optimal volume ratio (6.5:10, v/v) of SAEW with distilled water influenced wheat microbiome composition, with a higher microbial diversity and abundance discovered on the control grains. Bacteroidetes of predominant bacterial phylum and Ascomycota of the most abundant fungal phylum were reduced after SAEW optimal volume ratio tempering. The flour yield is higher and ash content is lower than the control samples. Falling number and “b*” in terms of colour markedly increased. DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimetry) test showed that To (onset temperature), Tp (peak temperature), and Tc (conclusion temperature) were significantly decreased in thermal characteristics of flour. Gluten content, protein content, ΔH and pasting properties tests showed no significant change. It can be concluded that SAEW should be applied on wheat tempering for producing clean wheat flour. ANOVA and Tukey’s honestly significant difference (HSD) test were used for the analysis of variance and differences between the experimental and control groups, with p < 0.05. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Grain Processing and Milling Engineering)
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13 pages, 1846 KiB  
Article
Effects of Jet Milling on the Physicochemical Properties of Buckwheat Flour and the Quality Characteristics of Extruded Whole Buckwheat Noodles
by Jiayu Cheng, Sijia Lei, Li Gao, Yingquan Zhang, Weiwei Cheng, Zhenjiong Wang and Xiaozhi Tang
Foods 2022, 11(18), 2722; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11182722 - 06 Sep 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1514
Abstract
The effects of jet milling on the physicochemical properties of buckwheat flour and the quality characteristics of extruded whole buckwheat noodles (WBN) were investigated in this study. The results reveal that the application of jet milling significantly reduced the particle size of buckwheat [...] Read more.
The effects of jet milling on the physicochemical properties of buckwheat flour and the quality characteristics of extruded whole buckwheat noodles (WBN) were investigated in this study. The results reveal that the application of jet milling significantly reduced the particle size of buckwheat flour. As a result, the damaged starch content, water solubility index, water absorption index and swelling power of buckwheat flour all increased. It was worth noting that moderately ground buckwheat flour powder (D50 = 65.86 μm) had the highest pasting viscosity and gel hardness. The breaking rate and cooking loss of extruded whole buckwheat noodles made from the above powder were reduced by 33% and 16%, respectively. Meanwhile, they possessed the highest lightness and firmest network structure. Jet milling increased the soluble dietary fiber (SDF) content from 3.45% to 4.39%, and SDF further increased to 5.28% after noodle extrusion. This study was expected to provide a reference for exploiting high-quality gluten-free noodles from the perspective of milling. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Grain Processing and Milling Engineering)
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