EFFECT OF MOISTURE AND PACKAGING ON THE …

1 Internet Journal of Food Safety V. 4, 1-6. EFFECT OF MOISTURE and PACKAGING on the Shelf Life of Wheat Flour Masood Sadiq Butt, Muhammad Nasir, Saeed Akhtar and Kamran Sharif. Institute of Food Science & Technology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. _____. ABSTRACT. T e mp er ing of th e whe at s a mp les w ith d iff er en t a mo un ts of w a ter wa s don e to ob ta in f lour tr e a tme n ts h av ing d ifferen t mo isture levels T 1 ( ), T 2 (13%), T 3. (12 %), T 4 (11%), T 5 (10%) and T 6 (9 %) after millin g . These tr eatmen ts were sep arately p ack ed in po lyprop ylene and p ap er bag s. Dur ing the storage p er iod of 60 d a ys, each tr eatmen t in bo th polyprop ylene and p aper bag s was evalu a ted for prox imate co mposition, insect inf estation, mo ld g row th and to tal iron . Th e crude pro tein and crude f a t d ec re as ed w i th s tor ag e p er iod.

2 Mo is tur e con t en t ( m. c) i n T 1 ( m. c.), T 2 (13 %. m. c . ) and T 3 (12 % m. c.) d ecr e ase d. Ch ang es w er e minimu m in T 4 (11% m. c.) and in cre a s ing tr end wa s s ee n in T 5 (10% m. c.) and T 6 (9 % m. c.) . Th e chang es w er e mor e in po lyprop ylen e than in paper b ag s. Chang e s in ash and f ib er w er e non sign if ic an t dur ing th e stud y. In sect inf estation and mo u ld g rowth w er e also f avor ed by h igh er mo is tu re con ten t of flour. Pap er p ack ag ing w as found to b e su itab le ag ainst insect inf estation and mo u ld growth. To tal iron also show ed a decreasing trend w ith storage p er iod. Low er f lour mo i s tur e ( T 6 = 9%) and p aper p ack ag ing w er e found to be su itab le for sto rag e stab ility & long er shelf life of wheat flou r. _____. INTRODUCTION. In Pak istan, wh eat is main ly p ar ticu lar ly cer tain species o f fungi.

3 A t milled to who le wh eat flour for th e lower mo is ture fung i will no t gro w bu t produ ction of un le avened f lat br ead at abou t 14% or sligh tly abov e, fung al lo cally known as Ch ap a ti wh ile rest grow th tak es p lace (Hosen ey, 1994). is used fo r o th er b ak er y p roducts lik e H igh er lipolytic and pro teo lytic br ead , b iscu its , cakes, pastr ies, pizzas activ ities are related to h igh er mo isture etc. Th e annu al produ ction of wh eat in con ten t, which furth er lead to loss in Pak istan is milli on ton es and th e nu tr ien ts (pro tein and fat) and area cov ered is millio n h e ctares produ ction of mor e FFA r esu lting in (Anon . 2003). inf er ior sensor y char acter is tics. Mo is tur e con ten t of f lour is In mod ern age, food pack ag ing v er y impor ta n t reg ard ing its sh e lf lif e, h as be co me v er y imp orta n t b ec ause of l o w e r the f lo u r mo i s tur e , the b e t te r i ts pro tection of the produ ct fro m sto rag e stab ility.

4 Th e d e terio ration of c o n ta mi n a t ion b y ma c r o & mic r o - b ak ing qu ality is also less at lower o r g an is ms a n d th e ir f i l t h , p r e v e n t i on mo isture con ten t wh ich can be cred ited fro m lo ss or g a in of mo isture, to retarded resp iration and activ ity of shield ing the produ ct fro m ox ygen and micr oorg an isms ( S taudt and Zeig ler, to facilitate h and ling (Ball, 1960). 1973) Good packag ing actually serv es Mo is tur e is an impo r tan t f ac tor t w o p u r p o se s, w h ich a r e e ss en t ia l l y in con tro lling gr ain infestation. Insects te chn ica l and pr es en ta tion a l. T echnic a l th at liv e on stor ed gr ains and th eir a sp ec t s in p a ck ag ing a im t o e x ten d t h e produ cts depend upon th e mo is tu re shelf lif e of the food b y b e tter supply. Generally, mo istur e con ten t of pro tection fro m all th e h azard s dur ing 9% or low er restr icts inf estation.

5 S to rag e. Pres en ta tiona l a sp ec ts are no t Mo is ture is also of great imp ortance c o n c ern ed w i th she lf l i f e b u t s u ch for th e saf e s to rag e of ce re a ls and th e ir p ack ag ing in cre a se s sa le s b y cr e a ting a produ cts regard ing micr oorg an isms, 1. b r and i ma g e t h a t th e b u y er ins t an t l y and due to w eath er cond itions it is r ecogn izes (Peter and Ax tell, 1993). in ev itab le to exp lor e prop er pa ck ag ing P re sen tly p ack ag ing ma te r ia ls ma terial & mo isture con ten t to ov er b e ing us ed in P ak is tan for f lou r a re co me ex is ting d ilemma . ju te, co tton and po lyprop ylene. Th ese Th e presen t proj ect was d esign ed p ack ag es do no t pro tect the wh eat flour t o e x t e n d th e s h e lf l i f e o f f lo u r b y p r o p er l y f r o m c o n t a mi n a t ion b y in se c t d e ter mi n i n g t h e p ro p e r mo i s tur e a n d p ests, microb es, sand, dust and p ack ag ing ma te r ia l for s af e s torage and env iron mental mo isture.

6 To find ou t mo st su itab le co mb ination In climate lik e Pak istan th e of mo is ture con ten t and pa cka g ing shelf lif e of f lour is a ser iou s prob lem ma terial for flou r stab ility. p ack ag ing to ob tain wh ea t f lou r MATERIALS AND samp les hav ing d ifferen t mo istu re METHODS con ten t i. e. , 13 , 12, 11, 10 and 9%. W heat Po lyprop ylene b ags and ( Tab l e 1) . mu l t i w a l l ( 3 l a yer s ) k r a f t p ap e r b ag s w ere pu rchased fro m th e local ma rk et of Fa is a lab ad. P r epa rat ion o f Who le Wh eat Flou r Sa mp les T e mp er ing of wh ea t s amp le s w as done at d ifferen t mo istur e lev e ls wh ich were fo llowed b y milling and MOISTURE content MOISTURE content of MOISTURE content of flour after PACKAGING ( %). Treatment of wheat (%) tempered Wheat ( %) Polypropylene bags Multiwall paper bags T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 Table 1.

7 Different Treatments Used In Study Ana ly s is of D iff e re nt Treat m en ts of a nd 60 d a ys u s ing th e me th od d esc r ibed b y Who le- Wheat Flour D uring Storage Ben ek e (1962). Prox imate Ana ly s is I ns e ct Inf esta t io n E a ch tr eatme n t w as an a lyz ed In se c t egg s in wh ea t f lour w ere for tn igh tly up to 60 d a ys for mo is tu re, ob serv ed b y iod in e me thod and in se c t ha ir s crude pro tein, crud e f a t, crud e f ib er, to tal w ere d e termin ed by clov e o il me th od a sh , and N F E b y f o l lo w i n g th e ir r es p e c t ive for tn igh tly for two mo n th s of s torag e, pro cedu res d escr ib ed in AA CC (2000). accord ing to me thod descr ib ed in AA CC. Estimat ion of Iron (2000) . V isual ob serv ation was also I r o n con ten t w a s e s t i ma t e d w i th th e c ar r ied ou t to ob s erve in se c t larv ae and in terval of 15 d ays up to 2 mon ths b y a d u l ts.

8 U sing spectropho to me ter accord ing to S tat ist ica l Ana ly s is me th od d escr ib ed in AOA C (1990) . Th e d a t a o b t a ined f r o m e ac h Count ing of Mo lds treatmen t was subjected to statistical Coun ting of mo ld s was done by a n a l y s is to d e ter mi n e an a l ys i s o f v a r ian c e s er ia l d ilu tion or ag ar p la te techn iqu e on w ith in the tr ea tme n ts, p ack ag ing ma te r ia l Sabour aud agar me d ium at 0 , 15, 30 , 45 & stor ag e in tervals and in ter actions amo ng 2. th es e p ar a me ter s a s d es cr ib ed b y s te e l e t mo istur e con ten t dur ing stor age were due a l. (1997). to the h ygro scop ic prop er ties o f f lour. The r esu l t s a r e c o l lab o r a te d b y the e ar l i er R ESU LTS AND D ISCUSSIONS f ind ing s of Reh man and Sh ah (1999) and Prox imate Co mposition of Who le-Whea t K irk and Saw yer (1991).

9 F lo u r D u r in g S t o ra g e Th e r e su l ts p er t a in in g t o th e cru d e Th e mo is tur e con ten t w as aff ec ted pro tein con ten t show ed a d e cr easing tr end sign ific an tly du e to sto rag e, treatmen ts, w ith s tor age . A mong th e tre a tme n ts th e p ack ag ing a nd th e ir in tera c tion (T ab le d ecr e as e wa s mo r e in tr e a tme n ts h av ing 2,3 ,4). h igh er mo is tu re b ec aus e h igh er mo is tur e Th e mo i s tur e c o n ten t o f T 1 , T 2 , T 3 , c on ten t in wh ea t f lou r f avor ed pro teo lytic a n d T 4 d e cre a sed w ith s to rag e p er iod up to activ ity. A fter 45 days th e crud e pro tein o f 45 d a ys and th en in cre as ed af terw ard s. Th e th e samp les hav ing h igh er mo isture levels in itial decrease was du e to rela tiv e ly low i n cre a sed d u e to ins ec t i n f es t a t ion an d rela tiv e humid ity in atmo sphere.

10 After 45 micr ob ial grow th. Ch ang es in pro tein in d a ys of stor age, h igher r e lative hu mid ity p aper bag s w er e a lso low er th an in in a tmosph er e c au sed the f lour mo is tu re to po lyprop ylen e bag s. Th ese r esu lts ar e in in cre a se up to end of s tor age . How ev er, the c l o s e agr e eme n t w i th th e r e su l ts o b t a ined c hang es we re mo r e in sa mp le s h av ing b y L ee l av a th i e t a l. (1984) and Up adh yay h igh er in itial mo isture con ten t. Th e (1994) . mo i s t u r e in T 5 and T 6 increased throughou t Th e cru d e f a t d e cr e as ed d u r ing the th e stor ag e p er iod. This incr ease w as du e sto rag e per iod. The decr ease ma y b e to th eir lowe r in i t i a l mo i stur e c o n te n t . attribu ted to th e lipo lytic activ ity o f Be tw e en th e p a ckag ing ma te r ia ls, th e f lour e nz yme s.