Cereal Grains : Assessing and Managing Quality

Cereal grains are essential to our dietary needs, as well as for animal feeding and for industrial processing. Consumer needs can only be met by managing quality at all stages of the grain chain. Quality evaluation is also needed at each step for effective management. Cereal grains: assessing and managing quality provides a convenient and comprehensive overview of academic research and industry best practice in these areas.

After an initial chapter introducing the themes of the book, further chapters in Part one review cereal grain morphology and composition and the diversity of uses of cereal grains. Chapters in Part two convey the characteristics and quality requirements of particular cereals, including wheat, rye, corn and rice. The use of analytical methods at different stages of the value-addition chain is the subject of Part three. The final section in the book reviews factors affecting grain quality such as breeding, storage and grain processing, and also possible future developments.

With its expert team of editors and authors, Cereal grains: assessing and managing quality is a valuable reference for all those involved in the production and processing of cereal grains worldwide.

• Reviews cereal grain morphology and composition and the diversity of the different uses of cereal grains
• Examines the use of analytical methods at different stages of the value-addition chain
• Reviews the factors affecting grain quality such as breeding, storage and grain processing, as well as possible future developments

Dr Colin Walter WRIGLEY, B.Sc. (Hon.), M.Sc., Ph.D., FRACI, CChem.

Colin Wrigley’s 45 years in cereal chemistry research have earned him international recognition, in the form of several international and Australian research awards. His work is described in over 500 research publications, including several patents, a series of eight books on Australian cereal varieties and many edited books.

His research interests centre on the characterisation of cereal-grain proteins in relation to processing quality. This has involved developing new methods of protein fractionation, including gel isoelectric focusing and its two-dimensional combination with gel electrophoresis. Other diagnostic methods developed relate to the evaluation of grain quality in wheat and barley, such as better methods for variety identification, and for characterising quality in starch and sprouted grain (as co-patentor of the Rapid ViscoAnalyser). Research involvement also includes elucidation of grain-quality variation due to environmental factors (heat stress, fertiliser use and storage conditions).

Currently, Dr Wrigley is an Honorary Research Fellow at Food Science Australia, in Sydney, and a Consultant to the Value-Added Wheat Cooperative Research Centre. This role includes acting as a mentor to the “next generation” of cereal chemists.