Publication no. C-2003-0615-07R |  VIEW ARTICLE

A Fast Colorimetric Method to Estimate Corn Quality Loss.

E. A. Tosi (1,2) and E. D. Ré (1). (1) Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Tecnología de Alimentos, Facultad Regional Rosario, Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, Zeballos 1341, S2000 BQA, Rosario, Argentina. (2) Corresponding author. E-mail: <tosienzo@ciudad.com.ar> Telefax: 54(0)341-4484909. Cereal Chem. 80(4):450-453. Accepted June 24. 2002. Copyright 2003 American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc.

A fast method to estimate the loss of corn quality for wet milling as a result of excessive thermal treatment during drying is proposed. Proteins that remain soluble after drying were quantitatively extracted with a solution of phosphoric acid and ethanol. The soluble proteins were colorimetrically quantified using Coomasie Brillant Blue G dye and measuring at 595 nm. A decrease in absorbance values indicates a reduction in commercial quality of the corn. The application time of the proposed technique is approximately 30 min.