Cereal and bakery technology

In short

Cereal and bakery technology covers how wheat, rice, maize and millets are cleaned, conditioned, milled and converted into flour, semolina, bread, biscuits, cakes and breakfast cereals. It is the largest branch of Indian food processing by volume — wheat flour milling, the organised bakery sector (bread, biscuits, rusk) and rice milling together handle well over a hundred million tonnes of grain a year. Examined in B.Sc/B.Tech Food Science papers on cereal technology and bakery science, and in competitive exams (GATE Food Technology / XL, ICAR-NET, FCI and NABARD technical papers). Employers who test it directly include Britannia, Parle, ITC Foods, Mondelez, Bakers Circle, Modern Foods, Hindustan Unilever, Adani Wilmar, ITC's Aashirvaad atta chakkis, Cargill, Bühler India and the Food Corporation of India.

Explained

Cereal grain structure and composition

• A cereal caryopsis has three parts: bran (pericarp, testa, aleurone — fibre, minerals, B vitamins), endosperm (starch granules in a protein matrix — the flour-yielding part, ~80-85% of wheat grain) and germ/embryo (lipid-rich, ~2-3%, removed because its oil causes rancidity).
• Wheat crease runs the length of the grain and traps bran — this is why wheat cannot be abraded clean like rice and must be opened by roller milling.
• Typical wheat composition: 10-14% moisture, 9-15% protein, 68-72% starch, 1.5-2% fat, 1.5-2% ash. Rice (brown): ~7-9% protein; maize: ~9-10% protein with a large, oil-rich germ (~4% fat).
• Gluten = gliadin (alcohol-soluble, gives extensibility/viscous flow) + glutenin (high-molecular-weight polymers, give elasticity/strength). Only wheat (and weakly, rye/triticale) forms a viscoelastic gluten network.
• Proteins are classed by Osborne solubility: albumins (water), globulins (salt), gliadins (70% alcohol), glutenins (dilute acid/alkali). Wheat is deficient in lysine; maize in lysine and tryptophan (hence pellagra in maize-dependent diets); millets and rice bran are nutritionally superior in minerals.
• Wheat classes in India: aestivum (bread wheat, most of the crop), durum (hard, high-carotene — semolina/suji, pasta), dicoccum (emmer, khapli).

Wheat milling — roller flour milling

1. Cleaning (screen room): magnetic separator → sieve/separator (size) → aspirator (light chaff) → destoner (density) → disc/indented cylinder separator (shape — removes barley, oats) → scourer/brush (surface dirt) → optional colour sorter.
2. Conditioning/tempering: water added to raise moisture to ~15.5-16.5% for hard wheat, ~14.5-15.5% for soft wheat, rested 8-24 h. Purpose: toughen the bran so it peels in flakes, and mellow the endosperm so it powders easily.
3. Break system: 4-5 pairs of corrugated rolls running at a differential of about 2.5:1, with the corrugations usually dull-to-dull or sharp-to-sharp depending on the break. They scrape endosperm off the bran as semolina and middlings, deliberately avoiding flour production.
4. Purification: purifiers use a sieve plus upward air current to separate pure endosperm particles from bran-attached ones by density and size.
5. Reduction system: 8-12 pairs of smooth rolls (differential ~1.25:1) grind the purified semolina to flour; sifters (plansifters) classify after every passage; bran finishers and detachers recover the last endosperm.
6. Streams and extraction: patent flour (first reduction streams, lowest ash), clear flour, low-grade flour; by-products bran, germ, and atta-type feeds.

• Ash content is the standard purity index: lower ash = less bran = whiter flour (maida ~0.45-0.60% on dry basis; atta ~1.5%).
• Indian mill products: maida (fine, low-ash flour), suji/rava (coarse semolina), atta (whole wheat, traditionally stone-ground in a chakki, which heat-damages a little starch and gives better chapati texture), resultant atta (mill by-product flour), bran.
• Flour ageing/maturing improves gluten by oxidation. Potassium bromate was banned as a flour treatment agent in India in 2016 (it is a suspected carcinogen; potassium iodate was retained on the permitted list pending scientific review); permitted alternatives include ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide (where permitted — check the current FSSAI additive table), enzymes (fungal amylase, xylanase, glucose oxidase) and chlorine/benzoyl peroxide for cake flour where allowed.

Rice, maize and millet processing

• Rice milling: paddy cleaning → dehusking (rubber-roll sheller; husk ~20%) → paddy separator → whitening/polishing (abrasive cone or friction huller; bran ~8-10%) → grading → polished rice. Total milled rice yield ~65-70% of paddy, of which head rice is typically ~55-65%.
• Parboiling: soaking (~60-70 °C) → steaming (gelatinises starch) → drying → milling. Benefits: starch gelatinisation seals cracks so head-rice yield rises, B vitamins migrate inward from bran (less thiamine loss), oil better retained in bran, grain is harder and insect-resistant. Drawbacks: colour and odour change, longer cooking, higher energy use. Dominant in Tamil Nadu, Odisha, West Bengal, Kerala.
• Rice qualities examined: amylose content (low <20% sticky; intermediate 20-25%; high >25% flaky — Indian preference varies by region), gelatinisation temperature, alkali spreading value, head rice recovery, degree of milling.
• Maize dry milling: tempering → degerminator → roller milling → grits, meal, flour, germ (for oil). Maize wet milling: SO₂ steeping (0.1-0.2% SO₂, 48-52 h, ~50 °C) → coarse grinding → germ separation in hydrocyclones → fibre screening → starch-gluten separation by centrifuge → starch washing → starch, gluten meal (~60% protein), germ, steep liquor. Base of the glucose, dextrose, maltodextrin, HFCS and modified-starch industries (Sukhjit, Gujarat Ambuja, Roquette India).
• Millets (Shree Anna): decortication/dehulling is the key unit operation because the seed coat is hard and fibrous; hydrothermal treatment and sieving control the rancidity caused by high lipase in pearl millet. Pushed strongly after the International Year of Millets (2023) and in ICDS/PDS supply.
• Pulse milling and parboiled/flaked products (poha, murmura, chira) use conditioning, flaking rolls and puffing (HTST, sand or air roasting).

Dough rheology and flour quality tests

• Gluten tests: wet gluten and dry gluten (hand or Glutomatic wash), gluten index. Bread flour: wet gluten ~28-35%.
• Farinograph: measures dough consistency during mixing — gives water absorption (% water for 500 BU consistency), arrival time, peak time, stability, mixing tolerance index, breakdown. Strong flour = long stability.
• Extensograph: stretches a rested dough — resistance (R), extensibility (E), area (energy), R/E ratio. Biscuit flour wants extensible, weak dough; bread flour wants balanced strength.
• Alveograph: inflates a dough bubble — P (tenacity), L (extensibility), W (deformation energy), P/L ratio. Standard in pasta/durum and in many export specs.
• Amylograph / Rapid Visco Analyser: starch pasting viscosity and gelatinisation behaviour.
• Falling Number (Hagberg): measures alpha-amylase activity from sprout damage — seconds for a plunger to fall through a hot flour-water paste. High FN (>300 s) = low amylase, needs malt/enzyme supplement; low FN (<150 s) = sprouted grain, sticky crumb, collapsed loaf.
• Sedimentation (Zeleny), SDS sedimentation, Pelshenke tests for quick protein-quality screening; Hardness Index / NIR for hard-soft classification; colour grade (Pekar) test for bran specks.
• Baking tests: loaf volume (rapeseed displacement), specific volume (cc/g), crumb grain score.

Bread making — ingredients, methods, process

• Ingredients and function: flour (gluten network, starch); water (hydration, gluten development, gelatinisation, ~58-64% on flour); yeast *Saccharomyces cerevisiae* (CO₂ and ethanol from fermentable sugars, flavour); salt 1.8-2% (flavour, tightens gluten, controls yeast rate); sugar (yeast food, crust colour by Maillard/caramelisation, sweetness); fat/shortening 1-3% (lubrication, gas-cell stabilisation, softer crumb, slower staling); milk solids (colour, flavour, nutrition); improvers/oxidants (ascorbic acid), emulsifiers (SSL, DATEM, GMS), enzymes (fungal α-amylase, xylanase, lipase, glucose oxidase), mould inhibitor (calcium/sodium propionate).
• Methods:
  • Straight dough: all ingredients mixed together; bulk ferment 1.5-3 h. Simple, flavourful, inflexible.
  • Sponge and dough: 60-70% of flour + water + yeast fermented 3-5 h as sponge, then remaining flour mixed in. Better flavour, tolerance and gas retention — common in Indian bread plants.
  • Chorleywood Bread Process (CBP): intense mechanical dough development in ~3-5 min at a defined work input (~11 Wh/kg) with extra oxidant, extra water and extra yeast; bulk fermentation almost eliminated. Short cycle, allows weaker flour — dominant for plant bread.
  • No-time dough / activated dough development (ADD): chemical reducing agent plus oxidant replaces fermentation time.
  • Liquid ferment (brew) and sourdough (lactic + acetic fermentation by lactobacilli with wild yeast).
• Process steps: 1 Scaling → 2 Mixing (hydration, gluten development, air entrapment — dough temperature kept ~27-30 °C) → 3 Bulk fermentation (CO₂, flavour acids, gluten mellowing) → 4 Knock-back/punching (redistribute gas, expel CO₂, even cells) → 5 Dividing (by volume) → 6 Rounding → 7 Intermediate proof (10-15 min, relaxes dough) → 8 Sheeting, moulding and panning → 9 Final proof (~35-40 °C, 80-85% RH, until ~double volume) → 10 Baking (220-230 °C, 20-25 min for a 400 g loaf) → 11 Depanning and cooling to ~32-35 °C core → 12 Slicing and packing.
• What happens in the oven: gas expansion + CO₂ release + ethanol and water vapour → oven spring; yeast dies ~55-60 °C; starch gelatinises 60-85 °C (sets the crumb); gluten denatures and coagulates ~70-80 °C; amylase works briefly at higher temperature creating dextrins; crust forms by water loss, Maillard reaction and caramelisation; typical baking loss 10-14%.
• Bread faults: low volume (weak flour, under-proof, too much salt, old yeast), flying top/shell top (crust set too early, cold proofing), open grain (over-proof, excess water), sticky crumb (low falling number, under-baked), rope (*Bacillus subtilis* spores surviving baking — controlled by acidification/propionate), mould (post-bake contamination — hygiene, propionate, modified atmosphere).
• Staling: starch retrogradation (amylopectin recrystallisation) plus moisture migration from crumb to crust — fastest just above 0 °C, slowest frozen; retarded by emulsifiers, maltogenic amylase, fat, and by freezing, not by refrigeration.

Biscuits, cookies, cakes and other bakery products

• Biscuit flour: soft wheat, low protein (8-9.5%), extensible dough, low water. Hard dough (developed gluten; cracker, Marie, glucose biscuits — cut by rotary cutter, needs lamination and docker holes) vs soft dough/short dough (high fat and sugar, little gluten development, formed by rotary moulder; cookies). Wire-cut for high-fat drop cookies.
• Biscuit process: creaming/mixing → sheeting and gauging (hard dough) or moulding → cutting → baking in a travelling-wire band oven, 3-4 zones, 180-250 °C, 4-8 min → cooling on a long conveyor → stacking/packing. Final moisture 1.5-3%; a_w very low, so shelf life is limited by rancidity and moisture pickup, not microbes.
• Leavening in biscuits/cakes is chemical: sodium bicarbonate + an acid (ammonium bicarbonate for crackers — decomposes fully into gases; SAPP, MCP, SALP, cream of tartar). Baking powder = NaHCO₃ + acid + starch filler; double-acting releases gas at mixing and again on heating.
• Cakes: classification — batter/shortened cakes (pound, high-ratio) and foam cakes (sponge, angel, chiffon). High-ratio cake = sugar weight > flour weight, possible only with chlorinated/heat-treated flour and emulsified shortening.
  • Mixing methods: sugar-batter (creaming), flour-batter, all-in (one-stage), blending, sponge/foam whisking.
  • Cake faults: sinking centre (too much sugar/baking powder/liquid, under-baked), peaked cracked top (too hot oven, too much flour), tough crumb (over-mixed after flour, strong flour), coarse grain (insufficient creaming).
• Other products: rusk (twice-baked, very low moisture), bun, pav, kulcha, naan (Indian flat/soft breads), puff pastry (laminated with fat, steam leavened), doughnut (fried), cream-filled sandwich biscuits, cake rusk, pizza base.
• Breakfast cereals and extrusion: flaked (pressure-cooked grits → flaking rolls → toasting), gun-puffed, oven-puffed, shredded, and extruded products. Extrusion cooking = HTST under shear in a single/twin-screw extruder: feeding, kneading, cooking zone (120-180 °C, 10-20 MPa, 10-60 s), die expansion from flash-off of superheated water. Used for breakfast cereals, snacks, pasta, textured vegetable protein, fortified blended foods for ICDS, and pet food.
• Pasta: durum semolina + water → vacuum mixing → extrusion through bronze/teflon dies → drying (HT drying 70-85 °C) to ~12.5% moisture.
• Chapati/roti industry: chakki atta, high absorption (~65-70%), sheeted and baked on a tunnel griddle, packed in MAP — a big modern Indian segment (ready-to-eat rotis, frozen parathas).

Indian standards, regulations and institutions

• Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 with the FSS (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 lay down standards for bread, biscuits, atta, maida, suji, pasta and rusk; FSS (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020 govern labels; FSS (Packaging) Regulations, 2018 govern packaging material. FSSAI licence is mandatory; Schedule 4 hygiene (GMP/GHP) applies to bakeries.
• Illustrative FSSAI/Indian standard requirements (verify the current amendment, as additive and limit tables are revised often): bread moisture not more than ~40% (bread with added fibre/other kinds differ), atta moisture limit ~14%, maida ~14%, total ash limits by product, defined limits for preservatives calcium/sodium propionate in bread and sorbate/propionate in cakes.
• Potassium bromate is banned as a food additive in India (2016); potassium iodate was retained as a permitted flour treatment agent, pending scientific review. Trans-fat limit: industrially produced trans fatty acids capped at not more than 2% of total oil/fat in oils, fats and in foods containing them — relevant to bakery shortenings and vanaspati.
• Fortification (FSSAI Food Fortification Regulations, 2018): fortified atta and maida with iron, folic acid and vitamin B12; fortified rice with iron, folic acid, B12 — rolled out nationally through PDS/ICDS/PM POSHAN using Fortified Rice Kernels blended at 1:100. The +F logo marks fortified food.
• Bureau of Indian Standards specifications exist for wheat, atta, maida, suji, biscuits, bread and bakery equipment; AGMARK grading applies to foodgrains under the Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act. Quote the specific IS number only when verified — several older bakery IS numbers have been revised or withdrawn.
• GST: unbranded wheat flour and most unpackaged staples are nil-rated; branded/pre-packaged bakery goods fall in the 5% or 18% slabs under the structure effective 22 September 2025 (bread has historically been exempt) — check the current rate notification for a specific product.
• Institutions: CFTRI Mysuru (bakery and cereal technology, training), IIWBR Karnal (wheat and barley research), IIMR Hyderabad (millets), IIRR Hyderabad (rice), CIPHET Ludhiana, NIFTEM Kundli/Thanjavur, FCI (procurement and storage), Roller Flour Millers' Federation of India, PMFME and PMKSY schemes for bakery/milling units.
• Storage and pests: grain stored at ≤12-14% moisture and below 65% RH to prevent mould and aflatoxin (FSSAI limit for total aflatoxin in cereals is 15 µg/kg; B1 10 µg/kg — confirm current values); fumigation and hermetic storage; Khapra beetle, rice weevil, Tribolium, Sitophilus are the key insects.

Key points

• Endosperm - the starch-and-protein tissue that yields flour; milling is essentially the art of separating it cleanly from bran and germ.
• Conditioning - adding water (to ~15.5-16.5% for hard wheat) before milling so bran peels in flakes and endosperm powders.
• Break rolls - corrugated, high differential (~2.5:1), open the grain and release semolina; reduction rolls are smooth, low differential, make flour.
• Extraction rate - flour as % of clean wheat; ~72-76% for maida, ~95-100% for atta.
• Ash content - the practical whiteness/purity index of flour; maida ~0.45-0.60% (db), atta ~1.5%.
• Gluten - gliadin gives extensibility, glutenin gives elasticity; only wheat forms a true viscoelastic network.
• Farinograph gives water absorption and dough stability; extensograph gives R, E and energy; alveograph gives P, L and W.
• Falling Number - measures alpha-amylase from sprouting; low FN means sticky crumb and poor loaf.
• Parboiling - soak, steam, dry before milling; raises head-rice yield and retains B vitamins, but darkens and hardens the grain.
• Wet milling of maize - SO₂ steeping then centrifugal starch-gluten separation; the base of the starch and glucose industry.
• CBP - mechanical dough development at ~11 Wh/kg replaces bulk fermentation; needs extra yeast, water and oxidant.
• Oven spring - the rapid early rise from gas expansion and vapour before starch gelatinisation sets the crumb at 60-85 °C.
• Baking loss - 10-14% weight loss as water and ethanol leave the loaf.
• Staling - amylopectin retrogradation plus moisture migration; fastest just above 0 °C, delayed by emulsifiers and maltogenic amylase; refrigeration makes it worse.
• Hard dough vs short dough - developed gluten, sheeted and rotary-cut (Marie, crackers) vs high fat/sugar, rotary-moulded (cookies).
• Chemical leavening - NaHCO₃ with an acid salt; ammonium bicarbonate leaves no residue because it fully volatilises.
• High-ratio cake - sugar > flour by weight; needs treated flour and emulsified shortening.
• Potassium bromate banned in India (2016); industrial trans fat limited to 2% of total fat; fortified atta/maida/rice carry the +F logo.

Formulas and examples

Example 1 — Conditioning water. 5,000 kg of wheat at 11.5% moisture must be tempered to 16.0%.

• W = 5,000 × (16.0 − 11.5) / (100 − 16.0) = 5,000 × 4.5 / 84 = 22,500/84 = 267.9 kg of water.
• Check: dry matter = 5,000 × 0.885 = 4,425 kg. New total = 5,267.9 kg; water = 5,267.9 − 4,425 = 842.9 kg → 842.9/5,267.9 = 16.0%. ✔

Example 2 — Extraction rate and by-product balance. A mill feeds 10,000 kg clean wheat and gets 7,400 kg maida, 1,900 kg bran, 250 kg germ, 380 kg shorts.

• Extraction = 7,400/10,000 × 100 = 74.0%.
• Accounted mass = 7,400 + 1,900 + 250 + 380 = 9,930 kg → process/moisture loss = 70 kg = 0.7%.
• By-product (offal) = (1,900 + 250 + 380)/10,000 = 25.3%.

Example 3 — Baker's percentage recipe and baking loss. Bread formula per 100 kg flour: water 62, yeast 2.0, salt 1.8, sugar 4.0, fat 2.0, SMP 2.0, improver 0.2.

• Total dough = 100 + 62 + 2.0 + 1.8 + 4.0 + 2.0 + 2.0 + 0.2 = 174.0 kg.
• Scaling for a 400 g baked loaf at 12% baking loss: dough piece = 400/(1 − 0.12) = 400/0.88 = 454.5 g.
• Loaves from 174.0 kg dough = 174,000/454.5 = 382 loaves (382 × 454.5 = 173.6 kg; the balance is scrap).
• Baked output = 382 × 0.400 = 152.8 kg bread from 100 kg flour → 1.528 kg bread per kg flour.

Example 4 — Dough water temperature. Desired dough temperature 28 °C, flour 31 °C, bakery room 33 °C, friction factor 9 °C (spiral mixer).

• Required water temperature = 3 × 28 − (31 + 33 + 9) = 84 − 73 = 11 °C — so chilled water or ice is needed; replace part of the water with ice if the figure falls below ~4 °C.

Example 5 — Rice milling yield. 1,000 kg paddy at 14% moisture gives 200 kg husk, 85 kg bran, 640 kg head rice and 60 kg brokens.

• Head rice yield = 640/1,000 = 64.0%; total milled rice = 700 kg = 70.0%.
• Brokens as % of milled rice = 60/700 × 100 = 8.6%.
• Degree of milling (bran removed from brown rice) = 85/(1,000 − 200) × 100 = 10.6%.

Where it is used

• Roller flour mills and atta plants: Adani Wilmar (Fortune), ITC (Aashirvaad), Shakti Bhog, Cargill India — roles in milling operations, quality control (ash, gluten, falling number), and blending/grist management.
• Organised bakery: Britannia, Parle, ITC (Sunfeast), Mondelez, Modern Foods, Monginis, Karachi Bakery, Bakers Circle — product development, line QA, shelf-life studies, bakery process engineering.
• Rice and millet milling: Kohinoor, KRBL, LT Foods, Tamil Nadu and Odisha parboiling clusters; fortified rice kernel manufacture for PDS; IIMR-incubated millet processing units.
• Starch and sweetener industry: maize wet millers (Sukhjit, Gujarat Ambuja Exports, Roquette India) supplying glucose, dextrose, maltodextrin and modified starches to the bakery and confectionery trade.
• Equipment and ingredient suppliers: Bühler India, AB Mauri and Lesaffre (yeast), Puratos, IFF/Novozymes-type enzyme and improver houses — technical sales and applications baking roles.
• Government and institutional: FCI storage and quality, FSSAI food safety officers, CFTRI/NIFTEM/IIWBR research, PM POSHAN and ICDS fortified-blended-food supply, PMFME-funded micro bakeries.

Interview questions

• Q: Why must wheat be roller-milled while rice can simply be abraded? A: Wheat has a deep crease that traps bran, so the grain must be opened progressively by corrugated break rolls and the endosperm scraped away; rice bran lies on a smooth surface and can be rubbed off.
• Q: What does conditioning achieve before milling? A: It toughens the bran so it peels off in large flakes instead of powdering into the flour, and mellows the endosperm so it grinds easily — raising extraction and lowering flour ash.
• Q: Difference between break rolls and reduction rolls? A: Break rolls are corrugated with a ~2.5:1 speed differential and open the grain into semolina; reduction rolls are smooth with ~1.25:1 differential and grind semolina into flour.
• Q: Why is ash content used as a flour quality index? A: Bran and germ are far richer in minerals than endosperm, so ash rises with bran contamination — it is a quick, objective measure of flour refinement and colour.
• Q: What do gliadin and glutenin each contribute? A: Gliadin gives extensibility and viscous flow; glutenin gives elasticity and strength. A balance of both produces dough that holds gas without tearing or collapsing.
• Q: What does a low Falling Number tell you, and how do you handle that flour? A: It indicates high alpha-amylase from sprout-damaged grain; starch is over-degraded, giving sticky crumb and poor volume. Blend it with sound flour and avoid any added malt or amylase.
• Q: What is oven spring and when does it stop? A: The rapid rise in the first minutes of baking from gas expansion, CO₂ release and vapour formation; it stops when starch gelatinises (60-85 °C) and gluten sets the structure.
• Q: Why does bread stale faster in a refrigerator than in a freezer? A: Staling is amylopectin retrogradation, which is fastest just above 0 °C; below the freezing point molecular mobility is too low for recrystallisation, so freezing nearly halts it.
• Q: How is rope spoilage different from mould, and how is each controlled? A: Rope is caused by *Bacillus subtilis* spores that survive baking and produce a sticky, fruity-smelling crumb — controlled by acidification and propionate; mould is post-bake airborne contamination of the surface — controlled by hygiene, propionate and packaging.
• Q: Why is potassium bromate no longer used in Indian bakeries? A: It was banned as a food additive in 2016 on carcinogenicity concerns; ascorbic acid, enzymes and emulsifiers now provide the oxidising and dough-strengthening effect.
• Q: What makes a "high-ratio" cake possible? A: Chlorinated or heat-treated soft flour and emulsified shortening let the batter carry more sugar and liquid than flour without collapsing.
• Q: Why does parboiled rice give better milling yield? A: Gelatinised starch fills internal fissures and hardens the kernel, so fewer grains break during dehusking and polishing — head-rice yield rises.
• Q: Why is ammonium bicarbonate preferred in crackers over sodium bicarbonate alone? A: It decomposes completely into ammonia, CO₂ and water, leaving no alkaline residue to cause soapy flavour or dark colour in a low-moisture, low-sugar product.

Common mistakes

• Confusing extraction rate with yield on a dry basis, or comparing extractions measured at different moisture contents.
• Using the wrong moisture basis in the conditioning formula — the denominator is (100 − target moisture), not (100 − initial moisture).
• Treating baker's percentage as a share of total dough; it is always a percentage of flour weight, so the percentages sum to more than 100.
• Saying strong, high-protein flour makes better biscuits — biscuits need weak, extensible flour or they shrink and distort after cutting.
• Claiming refrigeration keeps bread fresh — it accelerates retrogradation; only freezing or an anti-staling enzyme helps.
• Quoting potassium bromate as a permitted Indian improver, or quoting withdrawn IS numbers and old FSSAI additive limits without checking the current amendment.
• Mixing up chemical and biological leavening roles, or forgetting that salt both flavours bread and slows yeast — too much salt kills volume.
• Reporting mill or rice-milling yields without the denominator (per kg paddy vs per kg brown rice vs per kg clean wheat).

Related topics

Food preservation methods · Food packaging · Food chemistry: carbohydrates and proteins · Food microbiology and spoilage · Food engineering: heat and mass transfer · Food analysis and quality control