30/08/2016: Micronutrient premixes with vitamins B1 and B2

By enriching flour, mills in many countries make an important contribution to nutrition and public health. Flour is enriched with iron, folic acid, and especially with thiamine (vitamin B1) and riboflavin (vitamin B2).

The homogeneous, very fine distribution of the individual components is important for the quality of mixtures with these vitamins. Otherwise, agglomerated riboflavin can cause yellow streaks or yellow-orange spots in the final product (Photo 1).
  

Photo 1: raw materials

 
The US, Great Britain and Canada led the way in enriching flour with B vitamins. In the war and the crises of the 40s, these countries recognised the importance of food supplements and passed laws requiring that flour be enriched with vitamins like thiamine and riboflavin.

Today, in over 85 countries industrially made flour is fortified with vitamins B1 and B2 and micronutrients to protect consumers from nutritional deficiencies, voluntarily or by law.
  

Vitamin B1 and B2: wide-ranging importance for health
Thiamine is a water-soluble vitamin that occurs in many plants and animals, and performs important functions in the human metabolism and nervous system. Deficiency can present symptoms such as fatigue, memory loss, digestive and heart rhythm problems.

A formerly widespread thiamine deficiency disease is beri-beri, which today is rare. Riboflavin is a yellow vegetable colourant that plays an important role in the body in extracting energy from fats, carbohydrates and proteins, and in protecting cells against free radicals. Deficiency symptoms include skin problems, visual and growth impairment, fatigue and weakness.
 

Photo 2: Impact of vitamin B2 on the colour of bread. Adding 6 ppm riboflavin can cause
yellowing of the crumb. But the standard in flour enrichment is 2 to 4 ppm, which
does not cause discolouration.

Compensation for nutrients lost in milling (see graphic) 

Wheat has a naturally high content of B vitamins and would therefore in principle be a good source of vitamins B1 and B2. 

But these micronutrients are contained mostly in the outer layers and the germ of the grain, so that they are lost to a great degree when grain is milled to get a lighter colour, since this removes the outer layers. Subsequent enrichment of the flour with the respective micronutrients can restore or even exceed their original content in the wheat. 

As a rule, the amount of thiamine added is 5 – 7ppm (mg/kg flour). Thiamine mononitrate is most commonly used. This is a white powder that has relatively high stability for a vitamin, and can be processed without problems. 

Graphic: Micronutrient losses during wheat milling. Wheat is a
great source of vitamins B1 and B2. Losses during milling
can be compensated through flour enrichment.

Riboflavin, an intense yellow colourant, is a bit more difficult to work with. In order to be able to provide comprehensive advice on the use of vitamin B2, Mühlenchemie has done baking trials and colorimetric tests with riboflavin-enriched flour at its Technology Centre. 

The results show that the colouring effect only comes into play at relatively high concentrations. For example, at 6 ppm the crumb of sandwich buns showed quite visible yellow discolouration. However, at industry-standard concentrations of 2-4 ppm no significant discolouration was detected (Photo 2).

Yellow streaks and spots from clumped riboflavin (Photo 3) 

So the problem for the mills is not so much the quantity as it is the quality of the riboflavin in the premix. The physical nature of the vitamin is what makes the difference. Riboflavin is an extremely fine powder that tends to agglomerate, so during compounding it needs to be distributed as thoroughly as possible. 

Coarse particles can have negative consequences in the final products. For example, light colour is an important quality criterion for Asian noodles, which are made from bleached flour. 

Photo 3: Prevention of yellow spots and streaks in dough. Simple quality check: Spreading out a premix| containing riboflavin gives an indication of its homogeneity. If the agglomerates are too large,
the particles come apart under pressure to form yellow-orange streaks

If the premix contains insufficiently homogenised riboflavin there is a risk that the colour particles can break down under the high mechanical pressure that occurs during rolling and stretching of the dough, leading to yellow-orange streaks. 

Undesirable effects can also happen with buns. Individual yellow spots in the crumb are a sure sign of clumped or coarse riboflavin.

Read the full article HERE.

 

The Global Miller
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