Effect of Electron Beam Irradiation on the Sterilization, Quality, and Bacterial Count of Wheat Flour
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Abstract:
To reduce microbial contamination in wheat flour, sterilization of this wheat flour with electron beam irradiation was studied. The effects of irradiation on the physicochemical properties and the rheological quality of wheat flour were investigated. The results showed that electron beam irradiation could significantly reduce the microbial content in a dose-dependent manner. The decimal reduction dose (D10) values of bacterial count, mold, yeast, Bacillus cereus, and aerobic bacillus were 1.94, 2.12, 2.69, 2.51, and 2.46 kGy, respectively. At this range of doses (1~5 kGy), irradiation had no significant effect on the basic nutritional composition and amino acid content of the wheat flour. The wet gluten content and gluten moisture rate of wheat flour did not change significantly, but the gluten index and falling number were decreased with increasing irradiation dose. Irradiation could increase the water absorption rate of wheat flour and reduce the dough development time and stability time. With the increase of irradiation dose, the stretching area, stretching resistance, stretching ratio, and other parameters increased at first, then decreased, but the magnitudes of these changes were not significant.
