World Grain - November 2007 - 46

SPEAKERS

BestFlours -Mühlenchemie's Newsletter

No. 10/07

Future of Flour
Third International Mühlenchemie Symposium

The status quo of food
fortiﬁcation

Genetic improvement
of wheat

Effects of esterase on
baking properties

Food fortiﬁcation is one important strategy for combating the global problem
of vitamin and mineral deﬁciencies.
A distinction is made between several
types of fortiﬁcation: mass fortiﬁcation,
targeted fortiﬁcation and market-driven
fortiﬁcation. The selection of the food
vehicle based on food consumption
data is the ﬁrst and most fundamental
decision. The country-speciﬁc selection
of the fortiﬁcant is also of importance
and needs to consider the existing
nutritional deﬁciencies as well as the
cost-beneﬁts of each nutrient and each
chemical form.

During the last century, new wheat
varieties were produced through selected crossings and breeding. In classic
breeding the introduction of desirable
traits is only possible if these traits
already exist in the available gene pool
of the same or closely related species.
In modern breeding programmes the
genetic diversity is made accessible
through the application of molecular
markers. The breeder selects the most
promising plants based on presence of
the marker. Selection takes place in the
laboratory. Classic and marker-assisted
selection both rely on the availability of
high quality traits in the available gene
pool. Recombinant DNA technology or
genetic engineering offers an alternative
way of improving wheat, allowing access
to an unlimited gene pool. Complex
traits include yield, quality, biofortiﬁcation and resistance to environmental
stresses. They represent a challenge to
current and future wheat breeding and
can only be addressed if a high level of
genetic diversity exists from which the
breeder can choose.

Esterases split ester bonds into acids
and alcohols, binding water in the process. Esterases especially important in
the food sector are lipolytic enzymes.
The function of this group of enzymes
lies chieﬂy in converting ﬂour lipids
into more strongly polar and more
hydrophilic molecules. Over the past
few years, lipolytic enzymes have steadily gained signiﬁcance in ﬂour standardization - especially in the ﬁeld of
baking improvers and baking premixes.
In premixes these enzymes can partially
or wholly replace emulsiﬁers, making
it possible to reduce dosages, simplify
label declarations and cut costs.

Dr. Klaus H. Oldach,
Plant Genomics Centre, Waite Campus,
Adelaide, Australia

Dr. Lutz Popper,
Mühlenchemie GmbH & Co. KG,
Ahrensburg, Germany

Fortiﬁcation programmes have high
potential for sustainability. The Global
Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)
has set itself the target of reaching 1
billion people with food fortiﬁcation programmes. Current projects are expected
to reach 600 million people when at
full scale, and new strategies are being
developed to reach 400 million more.
Dr. Regina Moench-Pfanner,
Global Alliance for Improved
Nutrition (GAIN)
Geneva, Switzerland

The function of xylanolytic esterases
consists in splitting off aromatic acid
residues from the xylans (pentosans)
of the grain. This results in a breakdown of gel-forming structures and
thus softening of the dough. Single
released molecules of these acids are
important precursors of ﬂavour, for
example in the maturing of sour
dough.

World Grain - November 2007

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of World Grain - November 2007