Infrared Radiation: Impact on Physicochemical and Functional Characteristics of Grain Starch

Abstract

Infrared (IR) is a highly efficient and energy‐saving technology known for uniform heating, less heating time, and high energy transfer rate to improve food product quality and safety. IR technology has many applications, including drying and dehydration, enzyme inactivation, pathogen inactivation, and other miscellaneous uses such as roasting, frying, and broiling. However, the effect of IR radiation on the overall behavior of the grain and its components has not received much attention. This review focuses on the changes in the properties of grain starch when exposed to IR radiation. The effects of alteration in structural characteristics of starch on the mechanical and functional properties and on starch digestibility patterns have been discussed. An attempt has been made to present the theoretical basis for the interaction of IR radiation with the grain and its components. IR radiations interact with food molecules to vibrate the bonds to cause stretching in them. The vibration energy causes rearrangement of starch molecules resulting in the modification of mechanical and functional properties as well as the starch digestibility pattern of the grain. These may bring about changes in the outlook of the grain and hence the IR technology may find application in the grain processing industry.

Effects of parboiling and infrared radiation drying on the quality of germinated brown rice

“…The higher porosity in GBR‐I and PGBR‐I also contributed to soft texture of GBR‐I and PGBR‐I. In addition, Semwal and Meera (2020) reported that the IR energy could alter the starch structure, resulting in changes in functional properties including higher water absorption and greater swelling capacity.…”

“…In addition, IR caused the rice grains to be more porous, thus increasing the extractability of GABA. Specifically, the advantages of IR heating include high heat transfer efficiency, uniform heat penetration into the rice grain, and short processing time (Aboud et al., 2019; Semwal & Meera, 2020). The shorter drying time helps to preserve GABA in the rice grain.…”

“…Specifically, the IR drying significantly improved the HRY of PGBR (69.20%), while the HRY of oven-dried and IR-dried GBR was similar to that of BR. The IR drying effectively improved the milling yields of rice due to uniform temperatures and increased rice hardness, when compared with traditional sun-drying method (Semwal & Meera, 2020). As a result, the IR drying could be adopted as to efficiently improve HRY.…”

“…IR has widely been used in food processing due to high energy efficiency, uniform heating, short heating time, and high energy transfer rate, resulting in improved product quality and storage stability. In food processing, IR is used for drying, dehydration, roasting, and frying (Aboud et al., 2019; Ding et al., 2018; Irakli et al., 2018; Semwal & Meera, 2020).…”

Effect of microwave pretreatment on the exchange energy of forage barley

“…In most cases, crushers used in practice for grinding grain are relatively inexpensive, but their use does not solve the problem of increasing the nutritional value of feed. Infrared radiation improves the digestibility and nutritional properties of grain forage (Semwal & Meera, 2020). However, the energy costs of infrared emitters are high and amount to at least 0.33 kW h/kg.…”