Novel monitoring tool and cutting-edge milling technology to increase barley usage
EFSA's health claims concern increasing daily consumption of fibre from barley, especially beta-glucan. Barley typically has the highest beta-glucan content, prompting the food industry to produce new products with ingredients from barley grain that are rich in this fibre component. However, it can be difficult to preserve beta-glucan in the grain during traditional milling procedures. As a result, a lot of barley must be eaten to achieve the desired health benefits. With EU funding, the BARLEYBOOST (Boosted barley utilisation and consumption in the EU for better health) project set out to create products with high beta-glucan content that consumers will want to buy. Project partners developed a rapid monitoring tool that can maximise the amount of flour and minimise that of pearling dust, thus controlling the yield and quality of the whole grain barley flour. They also developed a novel barley milling process to enrich different grain tissues and health components, and created new food products by using smaller barley quantities. Specifically, the milling procedure for additional separation of enriched beta-glucan, starch or protein components increases the scope of applications and barley's potential as a food grain. A large variety of barley products were developed using different barley components. This barley product variety makes barley beta-glucan more accessible to consumers and easier to achieve the recommended daily beta-glucan intake. The BARLEYBOOST solution and technology should boost the competitiveness of the agro-food sector and flour milling industry. It will help to increase barley use and reduce waste through better process management during barley milling.
Keywords
Milling, barley, beta-glucan, BARLEYBOOST
