Australia thiamine levels flat, mycotoxins Brazil, ozone impact

Aussie flat breads earn vit crit​

Many commercial flat breads in Australia don't contain the mandatory levels of vitamin B1 (thiamine), find researchers.

In Australia, thiamine is mandatorily added to bread-making flour to fortify and reduce cases of cardiovascular and neurological disease, notably the brain disorder Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (WKS), which is caused by a lack of thiamine.

The nation has higher levels (2.1% on average) of WKS versus comparable countries, and in 1991 decided to fortify commercially produced breads and flatbreads.

This study assesses thiamine levels in 84 private label and branded loaves bought in Sydney in August 2013.

“Thiamin levels in commercially fortified bread and flat bread varieties ranged between 0.24 and 1.9mg/100g (dry weight basis),”​ Tiong et al. write.

“Samples of flat bread varieties (white without yeast, wholemeal with yeast and wholemeal without yeast), showed low thiamine levels (0.24-0.49mg/100g dry weight basis),”​ they add.

The team said their results suggest that commercial flat bread samples (27/84) were likely made from either commercially under-fortified flour/unfortified general flour, ​since only ‘bread-making flour’ is fortified.

Source: Journal of Food Composition and Analysis​, 38 (2015) 27-31 doi:10.1016/j.jfca.2014.11.003​
‘Thiamin fortification of bread-making flour: Retention in bread and levels in Australian commercial fortified bread varieties’​
Authors: Tiong, S.A., Chandra-Hioe, M.V., Arcot, J.

Mycotoxin reduction possible via milling?​

Milling will not be sufficient alone to reduce mycotoxins in finished flour to meet impending upper limits, claim Brazilian researchers.

In Brazil from 2017, the government will start reducing acceptable upper limits for mycotoxins. Taking whole wheat and white flour alone, levels will be cut from 2000-1000 μg kg -1 and 1750-1000 μg kg -1.

Mycotoxins, including Deoxynivalenol (DON) which can cause serious human health problems, can be created by the fungal disease Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) in cereals.

Brazilian researchers set out to attain reliable data on how different contamination levels affect mycotoxin distribution in the milling process – by analysing Fusarium mycotoxin distribution in milled fractions extracted from wheat lots grown in Southern Brazil in 2013 that they then artificially contaminated.

“The finished flour presented lower DON levels when compared with milled wheat, but this reduction was inadequate, to meet the current regulation limits for food,”​ Tibola et al. write.

With one eye on Brazil's changes to its upper limits, the scientists conclude: “The milling process cannot be solely used as an effective tool for DON reduction in the finished flour – especially in the higher contaminated wheat lots.”​

Source: Food Control ​(2015), doi: 10.1016/j.foodcont.2015.01.012​
‘​Distribution of Fusarium mycotoxins in wheat milling process’​
Authors: Tibola, C.S., Fernandes, J.M.C., Guarienti, E.M., Nicolau, M.

Ozone's effects on wheat quality? A mixed bag...​

What is the effect of ozone or O3 (an important air pollutant and greenhouse gas generated by reactions of nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and carbon monoxide) on wheat quality?

This study meta-analyses O3’s effects on wheat quality using data from 42 experiments in Asia, Europe and N.America; it concludes that its effects should be considered in future food security and safety assessments.

Main conclusions:

• Ozone significantly reduces 1000-grain wheat weight, volume weight and starch concentration.
• It enhances concentrations of protein, phosphorous, magnesium, potassium, calcium, zinc and manganese but strongly reduces the yields thereof.
• Ozone negatively affects concentration/yield of (potentially toxic) cadmium.
• It positively affects the baking properties of wheat – enhancing protein concentration, for instance.
• Future assessments of 03 effects on global agronomy should include quality and nutritional aspects as well as interactions with CO2 and climate change.

Source: Environmental Pollution ​197 (2015) 203-213, doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2014.12.009​
‘Ozone effects on wheat grain quality: A summary’​
Authors: Broberg, M.C., Feng, Z., Xin, Y., Pleijel, H.