FLOUR "WHITENING"-IS THERE A NEED?

Consumers world over prefer white flour and the food processing industry takes advantage of this weakness by providing highly refined flour through use of chemicals. The use of flour bleaching agents became a controversial issue when serious questions were raised in China regarding the safety of these chemicals when consumed over a period of time. Added to this Chinese authorities were appalled to find widespread use of Lime powder along with Benzoyl Peroxide by the flour mill industry there for obtaining snow white flour, in great demand for making many wheat based products. While Benzoyl Peroxide is a permitted bleaching agent permitted in many parts of the world, Lime powder is considered dangerous if present in flour as it can cause severe respiratory problems causing even death.

The burning question is why the flour has to be chemically bleached at all when nature itself has provided a process of whitening by exposure to atmospheric oxygen. But the industry has neither the time nor the patience to keep the flour for months together for natural aging, probably because of financial implications of long time storage. Natural flour has an yellow tint due to the presence of Xanthophyll carotenoids but if refined flour is produced in modern flour mills removing practically all the bran and the germ, the flour may look whiter. Industry still uses bleaching chemicals for further improving the appearance besides making the flour better "functionally" . Is it not unfortunate that modern flour mills produce the so called white flours by sacrificing many of the nutrients in the process, depriving the consumer of these critical life supporting nutrients?

Talking about nutrient loss, the modern day mills in contrast to traditional Atta Chakkis, remove almost all Vitamin E, 50% of unsaturated fats, 50% of Calcium, 70% of Phosphorus, 80% of Iron, 98% of Magnesium, 75% of Manganese, 50% of Potassium, 65% of Copper, 80% of Thiamine, 60% of Ribiflavin, 75% of Niacin, 50% of Pantothenic acid, 50% of Pyridoxine and practically all the dietary fiber making it literally a "dead" material. In a country like the US some of the lost nutrients are added back and offered to the consumer as "enriched" flour! According to many scientific studies such tampering with the natural composition of wheat can have grave implications on the consumer. It has been proved that those consuming calories through such refined products as bleached flour have a tendency to put on unwanted weight while the equivalent amount of calories taken through whole grain flour, nuts, fruits and vegetables do not cause such aberrations. The rapid rate at which glucose is generated in the blood from ingested refined foods causes significant metabolic changes causing over production of insulin by the pancreas leading to more and more food consumption.

Flour bleaching agents such as Benzoyl Peroxide, Calcium Peroxide, Nitrogen Dioxide, Chlorine, Chlorine Dioxide, Azo Dicarbamide etc are used for obtaining white flour and these chemicals bleach the surface of flour particles giving an illusion of a uniformly white and bright product. Chlorine, Bromates and Peroxides are not permitted in EU countries because of their suspected role in causing health problems on continuous consumption. According industry sources bleached flour gives higher loaf volume and fine grain structure in bread though it can also leave a bitter after-taste. In China Benzoyl Peroxide is permitted to be used at 0.06% in flour products though there is clamor for banning this bleaching agent because of its uncertain safety.

Interestingly due to continuous consumer pressure and proven advantage of whole wheat flour, food industry in many countries are switching over to technologies that can make good quality bread from such flours, though sandwich breads are still made from bleached and enriched white flour. Indians consume wheat mainly in the form of Atta, the local name for whole wheat flour which is used to make flat bread or roti and it is recognized that modern roller flour mills can make only resultant Atta which is a blend of refined flour and finely ground bran fraction but can at best be a poor substitute for natural Atta. It is a tribute to traditional chakkis or plate mills that a good quality Atta can be made only if the wheat is ground in this simple mill and most large scale millers are using giant chakkis in battery to manufacture large quantities of the popular roti flour in the country.

V.H.POTTY

http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/

http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

GOOD OLD "ATTA"-FACING THE MIGHT OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY

Atta is the ground product from whole wheat used extensively in preparing many food articles in India. By far the single largest use is in making Roti or Chapati or other products which are staple items in the diet of a majority of Indians. If multinational giants are in the Atta business, it is due to the extreme popularity of this milled product amongst the Indian consumers. It is another matter that entry of these large companies has pushed up the price to unimaginable levels during the past 2-3 years. Branded Atta to day costs more than double the price of the raw wheat and urban consumers have no alternate choice but to buy these products for their daily subsistence.

In western countries the concept of Atta was practically non-existent as most of the wheat products like pasta, bread, biscuits and many others are based on milled, refined flour containing no bran or germ, the most nutritious part of the grain. The sophisticated milling technology developed in the West based on automated roller flour milling concept has spawned large capacity plants with through put as high as 2000-3000 tons per day. The by-products like bran and germ go for compounded animal feeds. In contrast, Indian families had perfected manual process of grinding wheat grains into whole grain flour which preserved the characteristic aroma and taste of wheat. The historic "Atta Chakki" which once was an integral part of Indian family traditions, are disappearing fast from the landscape of the country for want of clientele which has switched over to branded Atta during the last one decade.

Atta Chakki or the stone mill or the plate mill as it is known amongst food technologists was originally based on revolving granite discs with a gap for feeding wheat grain and flours of any fineness can be obtained by adjusting the gap. Cast iron discs replaced the granite ones with more efficient grinding and through put capacities. Attempts by the organized flour mill industry to by-pass the Chakki ground Atta by mixing the bran fraction from the roller flour mill with refined white flour were doomed to failure and Atta Chakki survived. Adopting the strategy that "join the adversary if you cannot beat hm" larger Chakkis were designed by the organized milling industry for use along with the standard pre-cleaning and post-grinding facilities of their flour mills to manufacture Atta similar to Chakki ground Atta. Traditional Chakki stood the test of time and it is unlikely that any alternative will ever be found for this ubiquitous contraption of yesteryear.

Why is that Atta from Chakki rules supreme in India, able to beat back the onslaught of the modern technological prowess as represented by the Roller Flour Mills of sleek and elegant design? There is scientific basis for this phenomenon. One of the basic factors that puts Chakki Atta above modern white flour is the temperature generated in plate mills which cause "desirable" changes in the starch granules in the grain contributing to better quality roti in terms of aroma and eating pleasure. Besides its nutritional superiority in terms of high dietary fiber, higher Vitamin E content and minerals, Chakki Atta has more appealing flavor and sweeter taste due to the roasting effect and carotenoid content in whole flour. Even to day many house holds in Northern parts of the country buy high quality raw wheat based on their experience from the market, wash it clean with water, dry under the sun and take to the nearest Chakki facility to grind into Atta of desired fineness. One of the problems associated with whole wheat flour is its limited shelf life due to presence of high lipase germ fraction causing rancidity but traditionally only limited quantity of wheat is milled, just sufficient for a few days without causing any spoilage.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com