Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Determination of water activity in Foxtail millet (Setaria italica) grains for storage safety

International Conference and Exhibition on Food Processing & Technology

November 22-24, 2012 Hyderabad International Convention Centre, India

Giridhar Goudar, Kamatar MY and Meghana DR

Accepted Abstracts: J Food Process Technol

Abstract:

Foxtail millet (Setaria italica) is a rainfed crop grown in the dry regions of India. This millet is nutritious and possess therapeutic properties but the storage of these grains is said to be difficult. Water activity provides valuable information about microbial spoilage, chemical stability, and physical stability of the samples. A study was conducted to determine the water activity (aW) of these grains for the microbial growth using the analytical equipment water activity meter. Different samples of foxtail millet grains collected from six districts of Karnataka state were subjected to homogenization into fine powder and were analysed in water activity meter. The samples of Chitradurga (n=12), Belgaum (n=2), Gadag (n=12), Davangere (n=2), Bellary (n=5), Dharwad (n=5) districts showed aW in the range 0.457-0.538, 0.476-0.494, 0.445-0.551, 0.495-0.496, 0.498-0.517, 0.475-0.547 respectively. The range of the aW at which microbial growth occurs in food grains is (0.97 to 0.76) for bacteria and (0.93 to 0.61) for molds and yeast. Since there is not much variation in aW of the foxtail millet sample collected from different districts, it can be concluded that these grains are safe from the contamination of microbial growth and fit for consumption when stored at room temperature under dry conditions.

Biography :

Giridhar Goudar has obtained his M.Sc. (Biochemistry) degree from Karnataka University Dharwad. He is presently working as Research Associate in ICAR-NAIP project on Enrichment and Popularization of Potential Food Grains for Nutraceutical Benefits at University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad.