2001 AACC Annual Meeting Charlotte, North Carolina October 14-18, 2001 Charlotte Convention Center

The objective of the study was to investigate the use of spectroscopic technique for rapid detection of different starch types as well as foods containing starches that have been irradiated. Five commercial starches from wheat, potato, corn, waxy corn and high amylose corn were used in the study. Additionally starch extracted from a high protein and high oil corn lines were also used in the study. The thermal properties of the starches were characterized using Differential Scanning Calorimetry. Potato starch had the highest enthalpy of gelatinization followed by high protein starch. The high oil starch had a significant lipid-amylose peak that was twice as large as that for normal corn or wheat starch. The Fourier-Transform Raman spectra of the different starch samples were obtained using the Nicolet 870 bench and an InGAs detector. After optimizing for the instrument parameters, the Raman spectra were obtained at an acquisition rate of 2 min/sample. The different starch systems were characterized based on their native characteristics. Differences were observed in the spectra of the various starches suggesting the potential to use this technique to identify starch sources. The native starches were also irradiated at doses of 3 and 10 KGy. The enthalpy of gelatinization of irradiated starches decreased by about 10% with increasing doses of irradiation and there was a slight decrease in the gelatinization temperature range. The Raman spectra of the irradiated samples also revealed differences that could potentially be used as a tool for rapid assessment of starch kinetics in a processing environment.