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The commercial availability of low-gluten or gluten-free flours has been increasing due to consumer demands, which raises new challenges for the management of stored product insects since little is known about the susceptibility of these flours to infestation. Here we measured oviposition and development of Tribolium castaneum, the red flour beetle, a major pest of wheat and rice mills, on 18 different commercially available flours (almond, amaranth, barley, buckwheat, cassava, coconut, corn, garbanzo, millet, oat, potato, quinoa, rice, rye, sorghum, spelt, teff, and wheat) to assess the level of risk. The average number of eggs laid was highest for teff flour, with wheat, rice, buckwheat, sorghum, barley, rye, and spelt flour also having high oviposition. The lowest oviposition was for potato, quinoa, amaranth and cassava. Holding the eggs laid in these flours and evaluating the ability to develop to the adult stage demonstrated that the average number of adult progeny was highest for teff and wheat, followed by buckwheat, rye, oat, spelt, and millet. In an experiment where single eggs were placed directly in flour, the highest percentage development was in barley, buckwheat, sorghum, spelt, teff, and wheat. Time for 50% of single eggs to develop to adults was quickest for sorghum, spelt, teff, and wheat, while sorghum, buckwheat, corn, spelt, and barley had the quickest development of 90% of eggs to reach adults. There was substantial variation among the different flours which indicates variation in risk of insect infestation. As consumer interest in these flours continues to grow and these alternative flours become more prevalent in food facilities, understanding what diets insects successfully infest is critical to developing management tools.

The influence of the addition of four legume flours, chickpea, broad bean, common bean and red lentil (in amounts of 5%, 10% and 15% to a wheat-rye composite flour (50:50:0-control flour), in ratios of 50:45:5; 50:40:10; 50:35:15) was studied by analyzing the rheological properties of dough in order to further exploit the functionality of legume flours in bakery products. The rheological properties of dough were monitored using a Mixolab 2. A Rheofermentometer F4 was used to check the dough fermentation, and a Volscan was used for evaluating the baking trials. The addition of different legume flours in the mixtures resulted in different viscoelastic properties of the dough. The results showed a weakening of the protein network depending on the amount of legume flour added and on the specific legume flour. On the contrary, all samples with a higher proportion of legume flour showed an increased resistance to starch retrogradation. All flours had the ability to produce a sufficient volume of fermenting gases, with the exception of flours with a higher addition of broad bean flour, and the baking test confirmed a lower bread volume for bread with this addition. The results of the sensory evaluation indicated that legume flour additions resulted in breads with an acceptable sensory quality, in the case of additions of 5% at the same level as the bread controls, or even better. The aromas and flavors of the added non-cereal ingredients improved the sensory profile of wheat-rye bread. Breads with additions of chickpea, common bean and broad bean had a considerable proportion of darker colors in comparison to the control bread and bread with red lentil.

Functional flours, defined as flours enriched with health-promoting compounds such as phenolics, fibers, or proteins, are gaining attention as wheat-free alternatives due to the nutritional limitations of wheat flour. This study introduces a novel liquid chromatographic time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometric method (LC-QTOF-MS/MS) to characterize the phenolic profiles of functional flours from different origins and evaluate their potential as flour substitutes in food products. The proposed method was validated and the limits of quantification (LOQs) were calculated over the ranges 0.1–1.0 mg/kg. Calculated recoveries were as low as 82.4%. Repeatability and reproducibility were expressed as intra-day (n = 6) and inter-day (n = 4 × 3) measurements and were lower than 8.1 and 10.9%, respectively. Target and suspect screening findings underscore the potential of pulse flours as nutritionally enriched ingredients for functional food development.

Polyphenols are important bioactive compounds whose regular ingestion has shown different positive impacts in health. Celiac patients have nutritional deficiencies, bringing many problems to their health. Thus, it is important to develop gluten-free (GF) products, such as bread, with nutritional benefits. The acorn is the fruit of holm oak and cork oak, being an underexploited resource nowadays. Its nutritional and functional characteristics are remarkable: rich in unsaturated fatty acids and fiber, vitamin E, chlorophylls, carotenoids, phenolic compounds, and antioxidant properties. The purpose of this study was to assess the use of acorn flour as a bioactive compounds source and natural GF ingredient for baking GF bread. Bread loaves were prepared with buckwheat, rice, acorn flour, and potato starch. Two levels of acorn flour (23% and 35% of the flour mixture) were tested. The physical, nutritional, and sensory characteristics of the bread were analysed, as well as the composition of phenolic compounds: total phenols, ortho-diphenols, and flavonoids. The phenolic profile was assessed by Reverse Phase–High-Performance Liquid Chromatography–Diode Array Detector (RP-HPLC-DAD). The antioxidant activity of the bread extracts was determined by 2,2-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS), diphenyl-1-picrylhidrazyl radical (DPPH), and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) methodologies. Acorn flour can be considered a good source of bioactive compounds and antioxidants in GF bread. Acorn flour showed good technological properties in GF baking, improving bread nutritional and sensory characteristics.

The cereal grains (wheat, rice, oats and maize) were germinated from 24 to 72 h for different time with the aim to increase their antioxidant activity, RDS (rapidly digestible starch) and low resistant starch (RS) fractions. Upon germination for 24 h, the protein, fat, fiber and ash content of different cereal grains decreased from 13.7 to 12.5%, 1.7 to 1.2%, 1.08 to 1.05% and 1.32 to 1.27% respectively. The germinated flours from different cereals contributed to the advanced molecular interactions between proteins and starch. The FTIR analysis revealed the evident changes in the spectral intensity among the germinated cereal flours. The amide I bands occur due to C=O straightening of the peptide group. The proportion of α-helix and β-sheet were highest in wheat flour while maize flour had the highest section of β-turns and anti-parallel β-sheets. The proportion of secondary proteins decreased with the progression in germination period. The germination significantly decreased the total starch content and causes the depolymerization of starch molecules. The continuous reduction of viscosity was observed with the progress in germination. Overall, this study summarizes that the germination can be used as the effective natural bio-processing technique to develop modified cereal flours with enhanced nutritional properties and promote possible interactions of the flour components aimed towards the emphasis of both starch and protein digestion rates.

This study aimed to assess whether hemp or buckwheat flour, and the replacement of water with cistus infusion, can simultaneously improve the nutritional value and antioxidant potential of wheat–chia bread while maintaining acceptable sensory quality. Control bread (WCh) and variants with hemp flour (WChH) or buckwheat flour (WChB), prepared with either water or cistus infusion (Cis), were baked. The chemical composition, amino acid profile and protein quality (AAS), fatty acid profile, phenolic compounds and antioxidant properties (TPC, FRAP), color (CIELAB), and texture were determined. E-tongue and e-nose analyses, as well as consumer evaluation, were also performed. Hemp flour most significantly increased the protein and dietary fiber content of bread and improved the PUFA content and PUFA/SFA ratio. Buckwheat flour shifted the lipid profile toward MUFA and yielded the highest lysine AAS, although lysine remained the limiting amino acid in all variants. Cistus infusion increased the polyphenol pool and antioxidant activity, with the strongest effect observed in the combined WChH/Cis and WChB/Cis systems. Electronic nose and an electronic tongue analyses confirmed significant differentiation of the flavor and aroma profiles among variants. Consumer evaluation showed a decrease in acceptance following hemp flour addition, which was partially mitigated by cistus infusion, while buckwheat variants maintained good sensory acceptance.

Agricultural by-products like grape pomace and olive stones are rich in bioactive compounds and can be processed into grape seed and olive stone flours.The phenolic composition of such flours still remains underexplored. This study introduces a liquid chromatographic time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometric method (LC-QTOF-MS/MS) to assess the phenolic profiles of functional flours from different origins and evaluate their potential use within the frame of a circular economy. Grape seed and olive stone flours from Lemnos and commercial sources were analyzed employing target, suspect, and non-target screening. Target screening resulted in the determination of 23 phenolic compounds. Suspect screening revealed phenolic diversity in flours produced in Lemnos island. Non-target screening resulted in the detection of 1042 and 1620 mass features in grape seed and olive stone flours, respectively. Principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) successfully differentiated samples between commercially available and those produced in Lemnos. These results underscore the phenolic richness of grape seed and olive stone flours, supporting their use as functional ingredients and reinforcing sustainability and circular economy principles in the agri-food sector.

Orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) flour is rich in health-promoting compounds that can improve the nutritional benefits of baked products when blended with wheat flour. However, the flour particle size and blend proportion may affect the quality properties and consumer acceptability of bakery products. This study investigated the effect of flour particle sizes and blend proportions on the physical, nutritional, textural and sensory properties of peeled and unpeeled OFSP composite flour cookies. Peeled and unpeeled OFSP flours (≤ 250 μm and ≤ 500 μm particle size) were produced, and each was used to replace soft wheat flour at the rate of 0 to 100% for cookies formulation. The results obtained showed that substitution of wheat flour with OFSP flours significantly (p < 0.05) decreased cookies baking loss, thickness, volume, crust lightness (L*) but increased diameter, spread ratio, crust redness, yellowness, contents of ß-carotene, vitamin A, ascorbic acid, total phenolics and flavonoids, and the antioxidant capacity. The hardness and fracturability of the OFSP-based cookies ranged between 1.389 and 10.142 kg and 0.873 and 9.431 kg, respectively, whereas the values of the control cookies were 1.281 ± 0.003 kg and 1.274 ± 0.003 kg, respectively. The effect of flour particle size on the physical and nutritional properties of cookies was insignificant (p > 0.05). However, the ≤ 250 μm particle size flour cookies had higher overall acceptability than the ≤ 500 μm particle size flour cookies. The unpeeled OFSP composite cookies had higher bioactive compounds concentrations except for ascorbic acid but had lower overall acceptability than the peeled OFSP cookies. Generally, the 30% peeled OFSP composite flour cookies had the highest consumer acceptability.

Wheat bread, produced by the single-phase method, is a common food consumed all over the world. Due to changes in lifestyle and nutritional trends, alternative raw materials are sought to increase the nutritional value and improve the taste of daily consumed products. Additionally, customers seek a wide variety of foods, especially when it comes to basic foods. Nuts, such as coconuts or chestnuts, might provide an attractive flavour with benefits to the nutritional quality. In this study, the effect of substituting wheat flour with coconut or chestnut flour (flour contribution level: 5, 10, 15, 30, 50% w/w), was evaluated in terms of the breads specific volume, texture, colour, nutritional composition, and dietary fibre fraction contents. Moreover, a sensory evaluation was conducted to assess potential consumer acceptance. Based on the consumer’s perception, the overall acceptance of bread with 15% w/w of coconut and chestnut flour was in privilege compared to the control sample. As a result, taking all of the tested parameters into account, the breads with 5, 10, and 15% supplementation of chestnut or coconut flour were still of good quality compared to the wheat bread and their fibre content was significantly higher.

Background Flour dust, with an inherent allergic nature, increases vulnerability to various respiratory ailments. We systemically reviewed and compared literature-reported pulmonary function parameters to quantify pulmonary dysfunction among individuals with high flour dust exposure (among flour mill workers) and relatively un-exposed groups. Methods Studies that compared pulmonary function parameters for flour dust exposed and unexposed control groups were systemically searched in PubMed, Scopus and Embase from inception to June 2024. The Newcastle Ottawa scale was used to assess the risk of bias among included studies. With the random effect model, we pooled (along with 95% CI) the mean difference for forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV 1 ), forced vital capacity (FVC), the ratio of FEV 1 & FVC, mid-expiratory flow (FEF25-75%), peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) and other pulmonary function parameters. Cochran-Q test and I 2 statistics were applied to determine heterogeneity. Results This quantitative synthesis included twenty-two studies involving 2,482 flour dust exposed and 1,925 control participants. The pooled mean difference for FEV 1 , FVC, FEV 1 /FVC, PEFR and FEF 25 − 75% were − 0.43 L (-0.57, -0.29; I 2  = 88.7), -0.49 L (-0.64, -0.33; I 2  = 89.3), -3.5% (-6.49, -0.5; I 2  = 89.7), -1.36 L/s (-1.70, -1.03; I 2  = 90.4) and − 0.34 L/s (-0.63, -0.06; I 2  = 77.3). The pooled odds ratio for obstructive [12.9 (3.41, 49.2); I 2  = 82.4)] and restrictive changes [5.11 (0.55, 47.4); I 2  = 81.6] were significantly higher among the exposed than controls. As per the bias assessment majority of studies rated with moderate to severe risk of bias. Conclusion Study observed pulmonary function deficits associated with exposure to flour dust. However, considering the quality of primary studies and higher heterogeneity, high-quality larger studies with longitudinal design are required to affirm the effects of flour dust on lung function.