Abstract:
Among cereal grains, wheat has high potential to produce gluten protein that imparts strength and
elasticity to the dough that influences the texture of bakery products. Storage temperature has been
shown to affect the quality attributes of wheat flour but few research studies have been conducted to
evaluate the effect of storage conditions prevailing in Sri Lanka on wheat flour properties. Therefore,
a study was conducted to evaluate the influence of storage temperature on the quality characteristics
of wheat flour during short term storage. The freshly milled wheat flour samples from Prima Ceylon
Private Ltd, Chinabay, Trincomalee were stored for 8 weeks at room temperature (35°C and the RH
of 50-60%) and air conditioned temperature (27°C and the RH of 60-70%). The quality
characteristics such as moisture, wet gluten, gluten index and ash content and biological
characteristics of weevils count and total bacterial count of flour samples were evaluated at 2 weeks
interval during the entire storage period. Moisture content decreased significantly (p<0.05) with the
storage duration at two different storage temperatures. Visco-elastic properties such as wet gluten
and gluten index of flour samples decreased during storage and more markedly affecting the flour
quality at room temperature storage. Biological and microbiological characteristics were influenced
by storage temperature since the water activity was the main factor influencing their survival. The
storage temperatures significantly influence the quality parameters of wheat flour and play an
important role in ageing process of the flour. Based on the results of this study, the quality
characteristics of wheat flour were better preserved during storage at air conditioned temperature of
27°C with 60-70% RH compared to room temperature of 35°C with 5060% RH.
