Skip to main content
ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #174057
Title: FTIR ANALYSIS OF CORN GLUTEN MEALS PROCESSED FOR IMPROVED FLAVORS

Author
item Wu, Ying Victor
item Gordon, Sherald

Submitted to: Cereal Chemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/16/2013
Publication Date: 4/16/2013
Citation: Wu, Y., Gordon, S.H. 2013. FTIR ANALYSIS OF CORN GLUTEN MEALS PROCESSED FOR IMPROVED FLAVORS. Cereal Chemistry. xx.

Interpretive Summary: Corn gluten meal is the high protein fraction from corn wet milling. An increasing amount of corn gluten meal is produced as fuel alcohol production increases. It is essential to find an outlet for corn gluten meal besides animal feed, but the flavor and taste is not appealing. Various treatments to improve flavor and taste were tried, and the effects of these treatments on the composition and structure were studied. Better understanding of the flavor and taste of corn gluten meal may lead to more food use. The consumer will benefit from another economical source of nonanimal protein, and the corn farmer will benefit from higher demand and price of corn.

Technical Abstract: Corn gluten meal is the high-protein fraction from wet milling of corn to obtain starch, protein, and oil. Although some treatments were published to improve the flavor and taste of corn gluten meal, no information is available on the structure of protein before and after treatments. The objective of this study is to determine the change in protein structure and composition of solid corn gluten meal and wet cake by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Deconvolution of amid I bands of wet cake at pH 4 and pH 7 indicated the protein at pH 7 contained a higher percentage of helix than at pH 4. Steam treatment of corn gluten meal at pH 7 disrupted most of the helix in protein and dissolved and removed more polysaccharide than at pH 4. Knowledge concerning structural and compositional change of corn gluten meal after various treatments may lead to improvement of flavor and taste.