Evaluation of Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Parameters of the Types of Wheat Flour Produced in Milling Company

Abstract

Wheat flour is one of the most used ingredients in bakery products, based on its nutritional and technological properties. Also in recent years, with the increase in the variety of dough products, there has also been an increase in the types of wheat flour in a way that suits the needs of the market. This study aims to analyze the physico-chemical and microbiological characteristics of some types of wheat flour produced by a milling company, which are used for different purposes, such as: white flour, brown flour, whole meal flour, etc. In total, 6 wheat flour samples of different types were analyzed for: moisture, ash, gluten, acidity, water activity and total microbiological load. The results showed that the moisture content is below 14.5 % for all samples. The range of ash content varies from 0.46-1.29% and is different based on the type of flour, because it represents the total amount of minerals present in wheat flour. Acidity is the most used parameter to determine storage conditions and all samples had a low value of 0.09-0.21 %.The wet gluten content of the flour samples varies between the range of 27.3-34.4 %, the highest value of gluten was detected in brown flour. From the microbiological analyzes carried out, we see that the wheat flour samples analyzed result in a low microbial load. Based on the results of the analyzed samples, all types of wheat flour produced by this company have good quality in terms of the analyzed parameters. Usually, the quality of the final product depends on the quality of the raw ingredients. So, the study of the quality of wheat flour in terms of physico-chemical and microbiological parameters also means a higher quality and safety of bakery products.