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Most of the countries grow wheat varieties according to the product specificity while others lack such a system of special purpose wheat production. Those countries face problems in quality of bakery products like cookies/biscuits and breads. Cookie manufacturers require low protein to prepare good quality cookies. In case of high protein wheat flour, one solution is to hinder the gluten development during dough formation. It can be achieved by using chemical additives like Sodium Stearoyl 2-Lactylate (SSL), L-Cysteine (CYS) and Lecithin (LEC). So, current study was designed to add these additives in dough to hinder gluten development. For this purpose, wheat flour of two local mills was procured and analyzed for chemical & rheological traits. Furthermore, flour was used to prepare cookies with the addition of chemical additives and these cookies were evaluated for textural hardness, physical parameters, and sensorial characteristics. Results showed that wheat flours have optimum values of chemical & farinographic attributes. Chemical additives significantly affect diameter, thickness, spread factor, hardness, flavor, taste, and texture of cookies. Conclusively, SSL can be added in mixed wheat flour @ 0.5-1% to get cookies of good quality., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India) 2021.)

The increasing use of pesticides for boosting the yield of agricultural crops also impart toxic residues which ultimately extend to numerous physiological disorders upon consumption. The present study was designed as an effort to assess the reduction potential of various chemical solutions and to minimize the pesticide residues in cauliflower ( Brassica oleracea var. botrytis ). The samples were soaked in various solutions along with tap water to mitigate pesticide residues. Afterwards, the extracted supernatant was passed through column containing anhydrous sodium sulfate trailed by activated carbon for clean-up. Eluents were first evaporated and then completely dried under gentle stream of Nitrogen. Finally, the residues were determined using gas chromatography equipped with electron capture detector (GC-ECD). Results revealed the highest reduction of endosulfan, bifenthrin and cypermethrin residues with acetic acid (10 %) was 1.133 ± 0.007 (41 %), 0.870 ± 0.022 (60 %) and 0.403 ± 0.003 (75 %), respectively among the tested solutions. However, simple tap water treatment also resulted in 0.990 ± 0.02 (12 %), 1.323 ± 0.015 (14 %) and 1.274 ± 0.002 (21 %) elimination of endosulfan, bifenthrin and cypermethrin residues, respectively. Moreover, among various solutions, acetic acid depicted maximum reduction potential followed by citric acid, hydrogen peroxide, sodium chloride and sodium carbonate solutions. The percent reduction by various solutions ranged from 12 to 41, 14 to 60 and 21 to 75 % for the elimination of endosulfan, bifenthrin and cypermethrin residues, respectively.

The selection of appropriate wheat cultivars is an imperative issue in product development and realization. The nutritional profiling of plants and their cultivars along with their suitability for development of specific products is of considerable interests for multi-national food chains. In this project, Pizza-Hut Pakistan provided funds for the selection of suitable newly developed Pakistani spring variety for pizza production. In this regard, the recent varieties were selected and evaluated for nutritional and functional properties for pizza production. Additionally, emphasis has been paid to assess all varieties for their physico-chemical attributes, rheological parameters and mineral content. Furthermore, pizza prepared from respective flour samples were further evaluated for sensory attributes Results showed that Anmool, Abadgar, Imdad, SKD-1, Shafaq and Moomal have higher values for protein, gluten content, pelshenke value and SDS sedimentation and these were relatively better in studied parameters as compared to other varieties although which were considered best for good quality pizza production. TD-1 got significantly highest score for flavor of pizza and lowest score was observed from wheat variety Kiran. Moreover, it is concluded from current study that all wheat varieties except TJ-83 and Kiran exhibited better results for flavor.

Quality characteristics of wheat are determined by different physiochemical and rheological analysis by using different AACC methods. AACC methods are expensive, time consuming and cause destruction of samples. Fourier transforms infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is one of the most important and emerging tool used for analyzing wheat for different quality parameters. This technique is rapid and sensitive with a great variety of sampling techniques. In the present study different wheat varieties were analyzed for quality assessment and were also characterized by using AACC methods and FTIR technique. The straight grade flour was analyzed for physical, chemical and rheological properties by standard methods and results were obtained. FTIR works on the basis of functional groups and provide information in the form of peaks. On basis of peaks the value of moisture, protein, fat, ash, carbohydrates and hardness of grain were determined. Peaks for water were observed in the range 1,640 cm(-1) and 3,300 cm(-1) on the basis of functional group H and OH. Protein was observed in the range from 1,600 cm(-1) to 1,700 cm(-1) and 1,550 cm(-1) to 1,570 cm(-1) on the basis of bond amide I and amide II respectively. Fat was also observed within these ranges but on the basis of C-H bond and also starch was observed in the range from 2,800 and 3,000 cm(-1) (C-H stretch region) and in the range 3,000 and 3,600 cm(-1) (O-H stretch region). As FTIR is a fast tool it can be easily emplyed for wheat varieties identification according to a set criterion.