Devising a technology for making flour from chickpea enriched with selenium

Abstract

The paper reports results from developing a technology of chickpea flour enriched with selenium. The devised technology would allow the intake of the organic forms of the microelement whose deficiency is suffered by 17 % of the global population.

The study has found that the degree of selenium accumulation is affected by the protein content in the native grain. It is rational to use solutions for germination, which are the carriers of 75 μg of selenium. 95...99 % of selenium in sprouted grains are accumulated in the cotyledon, in the protein fraction. During the germination of grains, the amino acid composition increases considerably. The content of leucine, lysine, arginine, and tryptophan increases by 87, 76, 80 %, and 55 %, respectively. The base of the substituted amino acids are aspartic and glutamic acids and their amides, whose share in the non-sprouted grains of chickpea accounts for 67 %, and in the sprouted grains – 70 %.

The devised technological protocol of chickpea flour production differs from the control one by that the washing and disinfection of chickpea grains are performed in an aqueous solution of citric acid (pH 3.5...4.0). Afterward, the grains germinate in a solution of NaHSeO3 for 48 hours.

As regards the organoleptic indicators, the proposed flour has a light-yellow color, a smell that is peculiar to chickpea flour, its taste has no bitterness and sour flavors. In terms of its physical-chemical indicators, the differences from control are observed in the mass share of moisture, by 1 % less than that of the control sample, and the mass fraction of fat, which decreases by 2 %. There is a 0.5 % increase in the mass fraction of total ash and the mass fraction of fiber. Regarding the content of mercury, arsenic, lead, the proposed chickpea flour's levels are not higher than those permissible for human consumption; it does not contain cadmium, and its content of copper is less than the permissible level by 1 mg/g. As regards the number of mesophilic aerobic and facultative anaerobic microorganisms, mold fungi, and yeast, the developed chickpea flour is safe for use. It includes neither bacteria from the group of Escherichia coli nor pathogens of bacteria from the genus Salmonella.

Our study has allowed us to argue that the developed chickpea flour is a carrier of 52 μg of selenium in the bioavailable organic form that provides 65 % of daily requirement in selenium for an adult healthy person