An evaluation on the protein content found in some types of wheat flour sold in the Albanian market

ALKETA SHEHAJ¹*, RENATA KONGOLI¹, KLOTILDA SULA¹, IBRAHIM HOXHA², ROLAND HYSA³

¹Faculty of Biotechnology and Food, Agricultural University of Tirana/PajsiVodina, Kodër Kamëz, Tiranë, Albania 

²University “Haxhi Zeka”, Pejë / Rruga”UÇK-së” 30000 Pejë, Kosovo

³Fabrika e Miellit “Tirana”/ Blv “Teodor Keko” Tirana, Albania

*Corresponding author  e-mail: ashehaj@ubt.edu.al  

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Abstract:

The protein is the main component in the food products and dietetic supplement. The product analyzation for determination of protein content in food (wheat flour in our study), as full packaged product offered to the consumers, is important to assure the quality of trade products. In this study, to determine the protein content, 15 wheat flour types from the Albanian market are selected. Some of the criteria for choosing the samples are the type of the grain, weak or strong one, type of flour, like T 00, T0, all-purpose usage, integral etc, production company, from Albanian companies and abroad. Also, we have taken into consideration some grain samples from the Genetic Bank of Albania, in order to see the difference in the protein content between the packaged flour and the simple grain. To determine the protein content in flour wheat, an efficient method was used. NIR (near infrared) is one of the latest methods to determine the protein content in food, avoiding the Kjeldahl method. Compared to the last one, this new method has some advantages. It is a fast and efficient method, and moreover, it is ecologically friendly, because it doesn’t need chemical use. NIR Reflective Spectroscopy is based on NIR energy absorption on the specific wavelength of peptide bonds amid molecular protein amino acids. Mathematical processing of spectrum data and calibration against a reference to the method, appropriately enables the definition of protein content. The protein level found in our samples was from 8 to 15%. The result gives us a good overview of the protein content in the flour, which helps us to specify its usage.

Keywords:wheat flour, protein content, NIR.