2.50 - Development of FIA Biosensor System for the Determination of Starch in Flour

Abstract

This chapter discusses development of a flow injection analysis (FIA) biosensor system for the determination of starch in flour. The ratio of water absorption in flour is a very important indicator for evaluating its quality. It is also a useful index for continuous quality testing in flour production. The ratio of water absorption in flour could be obtained from the determination of damaged starch in flour. Presently, there are two methods for determination of damaged starch in flour; first is by using detection of maltose generated from hydrolysis of damaged starch by amylase in flour, and the other is by using the rate of iodine absorption by a starch suspension which depends on the characteristics of the flour. The former was an official method of analysis for damaged starch approved by the American Association of Cereal Chemistry (AACC). These methods require a lot of preparation time. Therefore, considering easy preparation and shorter measurement time, a FIA type biosensor system was developed for measurement of damaged starch in flour using hydrolysis of damaged starch in flour by a beta-amylase and maltose sensor system. This FIA system has been presented for fabrication, characterization, and application for measurement of damaged starch in flour.