doi:10.1094/CFW-60-6-0279 | VIEW ARTICLE

AACCI Report

AACCI Approved Methods Technical Committee Report: A New AACCI Approved Method (32-24.01) for Measuring Viscosity of β-Glucan in Cereal Products Using the Rapid Visco Analyzer

Tamer H.Gamel,^1,2El-Sayed M.Abdel-Aal,³Nancy P.Ames,⁴KellyHenderson,⁵FrédéricProthon,⁶TeepakornKongraksawech,⁷ and Susan M.Tosh<sup>3

1</sup>Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Guelph Food Research Centre, Guelph, ON, Canada, and Alexandria University, Faculty of Agriculture, Food Science and Technology Department, Alexandria, Egypt.²Corresponding author. E-mail: tamer.gamel@agr.gc.ca or tamer.gameal@alexu.edu.eg; Tel: +1.226.217.8102.³Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Guelph Food Research Centre, Guelph, ON, Canada.⁴Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Cereal Research Centre, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.⁵Richardson Milling Limited, Portage la Prairie, MB, Canada.⁶Swedish Oat Fiber, Bua, Sweden.⁷Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, U.S.A. Cereal Foods World 60(6):279-283.

Regulations allowing health claims linking consumption of food products rich in β-glucan with reduced risk of coronary heart disease have increased the interest of food companies and consumers in such products as healthy food options. Oat and barley cereal products, in particular, have garnered attention due to their high β-glucan contents. Processing oat and barley into food products may affect the physicochemical characteristics of β-glucan and subsequently its physiological effects, however. A new proposed AACCI Approved Method (32-24.01) using RVA to measure β-glucan viscosity in cereal products has been developed and validated. The objective of this method is to determine the viscosity of β-glucan that is soluble under simulated digestion conditions without requirements for pretreatments of cereal products. This viscosity measurement is obtained by mixing an aqueous suspension of ground sample with digestive enzymes in a disposable canister in the RVA. The method can be used by laboratories as a screening tool to identify products that may have positive physiological effects. It can also be used as a quality assurance method to ensure consistency of β-glucan characteristics in production. Ten laboratories participated in the collaborative study to evaluate method performance. The method showed acceptable precision, with RSDr values between 2.3 and 7.1 and RSDR values between 4.5 and 18.6.