Nutritional parameters of raw materials and mixtures as base for producing breakfast cereals

Abstract

From the most eldest times cereals were an important source of food. Their high content in carbohydrates,
proteins, lipids, mineral substances (K, Ca, Mg, Si, Na, Cu, Mo, Mn) and vitamins like (B1, B2, B5, B6, PP)
offer our organism a high percentage of the energy and mineral substances that it needs for survival. Alongside
the cereals, bens vegetables tend to complete the lack of cereals, bringing a high amount of nutrients. The main
purpose of this paper was to investigate the relevant nutritional parameters to elaborate breakfast cereals from a
mix of whole wheat flour, soybean flour, millet flour, lentil, rice, oatmeal, chickpeas in order to see which flours
and combination of flours gives the ideal dough for extrusion. There were analysed the protein content (%),
moisture (%), ash (%), fat (%) , gluten content (%), in the laboratory of milling and baking from the Faculty of
Food Processing Technology of USAMVB Timisoara. The analyses were performed by spectrophotometer with
Fourier transformer, Infra LUM FT – 10. To the studied mixtures, it can be seen that in each case, except mixture
7 (lentil 25%+ 75 % rice) was recorded high values of gluten, followed by proteins, minerals and fats. From the
above data it can be noticed that each mixture is a quite a good candidate to manufacture cereal flakes. It was
observed that mixtures in combination with water gives an gelatinous composition similar to classic bread
dough, which makes them ideal for processing in an extruder for cereal flakes.