doi:10.1094/CFW-60-3-0140 | VIEW ARTICLE

AACCI Report

AACCI Approved Methods Technical Committee Report on the Guidelines for Laboratory Preparation of Japanese Udon Noodles (AACCI Approved Method 66-60.01)

Gary G.Hou,¹LarisaCato,²GrahamCrosbie,³ and HidekiOkusu<sup>4

1</sup>Wheat Marketing Center, Inc., 1200 NW Naito Pkwy, Ste 230, Portland, OR 97209, U.S.A.²Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre (AEGIC), South Perth, WA, Australia.³Crosbie Grain Quality Consulting, East Fremantle, WA, Australia.⁴Nippon Flour Mills Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan. Cereal Foods World 60(3):140-142.

Asian noodles are widely recognized as an important wheat product, making up an average of 20–50% of total wheat flour consumption in Asia. Whether a study is focused on varietal selection in breeding, components of raw materials, formulation, ingredient application, process control, new product development, or other research issues, each line of the investigation requires valid, reliable, and small-scale laboratory testing methods. The diversity of Asian noodle varieties and regional differences in processing equipment have meant no internationally approved standard methods or guidelines have previously been developed and approved for noodle evaluation. However, some countries have developed official methods for their specific noodle products. One example is the Japanese udon noodle preparation method approved by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries–National Food Research Institute of Japan. This method has been in use for nearly 30 years (with slight modifications and improvements) and has proven to be useful for wheat quality assessment by researchers worldwide. The AACC International Asian Products Technical Committee has adopted and modified this method as the approved Guidelines for Making and Cooking Japanese Udon Noodles method (AACCI Approved Method 66-60.01).