World Grain - March 2022 - 66

TECHNICAL PROFILE: MAIZE-BASED PRODUCTS IN HIGH DEMAND
only recently such products occupied just a small
space in the specialized foods section of supermarkets,
today gluten-free products fill entire aisles. Once
reserved for consumers with special dietary needs,
they have long since entered the mainstream. The retail
volume of gluten-free baked foods has increased
from 173,500 tonnes in 2015 to 355,000 tonnes in
2020. Growth from 2015 to
2025 is projected to be 146%.
It's the same story for glutenfree
pasta products.
Consumers opting for
healthier or gluten-free diets
are just one reason why
maize has become such an
important ingredient in the
food market. Brewers also are
driving demand as they look
for ways to cut down on cost. Many are replacing
malt with maize as a price-efficient alternative. Craft
breweries also are experimenting with the new ingredient
and developing new tastes for their consumers.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, these trends
have accelerated.
Another important factor is the rise of snackification.
Time-poor consumers demand convenient, tasty
and healthy foods that fit in their busy schedules.
Traditional and new maize-based products are not just
practical but also meet modern consumer tastes and
serve our well-being.
Higher yields, food safety standards
On the supply side, unprecedented growth and increased
yields have had an impact on the market.
Today, it is becoming increasingly challenging to
source high-quality maize because growing demand
has pushed seed producers to create breeds that produce
higher yields. These varieties tend to become
softer, putting more pressure on the dry milling industry
to process maize into a diverse range of highquality
products that meet consumer expectations.
Uzwil, Switzerland-based Bühler AG has longstanding
expertise in maize processing and offers
technical solutions to answer increased demand, efficiently
process a broad spectrum of product varieties
with specific operating parameters and manage quality
challenges. Bühler's solutions enable food processors
to maximize yields, maintain high food safety
standards and extend the shelf life of their products.
Indeed, food safety is an area of growing focus. In
recent years aflatoxin contamination of maize, which
has been linked to global warming, has increased significantly.
Traditional color sorters that remove discolored
grains tend to impact yield by removing more
66
grain than necessary. Bühler's LumoVision system
accurately detects infected grains providing a safe and
efficient solution to a growing global problem.
The Prime Masa process
is more sustainable
and efficient, without
altering the taste of
the end-product.
More sustainable solutions
A further challenge is how to meet the increasing demand
with sustainable solutions. Each of the diverse
local product varieties requires
specific process parameters.
In the traditional nixtamalization
process of tortillas, chips
and taco shells, for example,
maize is cooked in lime water
for several hours before the
grinding process begins. This
is how the characteristic taste
is achieved.
But taste comes at a cost
- 1,500 liters of water is needed to process 1,000
kilograms into nixtamalized maize flour. As this water
is very high in alkaline and contains a lot of fiber
and starch, it needs to be treated in a wastewater
purification plant prior to being released back into
the environment.
To address this challenge, 10 years ago Bühler
started looking into sustainable solutions for nixtamal
maize flour processing and developed a new process
based on steaming to replace the traditional water
cooking process. This solution is marketed today by
Bühler as Prime Masa. The Prime Masa Nixtamal
process uses advanced steaming technology to optimize
the process. Maize is cleaned and degerminated
before the maize grits are treated with lime water and
steamed. After the steaming process, the maize grits
are first passed through a flaker before they enter the
drying and cooling process. The grits are then ground
into fine maize flour.
The Prime Masa process is more sustainable and efficient,
without altering the taste of the end-product.
According to Bühler's initial process assessment, 84%
of water and 52% of energy can be saved in the cooking
and drying process, while waste is reduced by 96%.
A further assessment, validated by SGS Tecnos SA, has
demonstrated that there is also a beneficial impact on CO2
emissions. The Prime Masa process reduces CO2e emissions
per kilogram of maize flour from 0.93 to 0.79 kg.
These results support progress toward Bühler's global
sustainability goal to cut energy usage, water consumption
and waste by 50% along customers' value chains.
The proven technology has been successfully in operation
at a plant in the United States for five years.
In India, an additional plant started operations in July
2021 in response to the growing demand for tortilla
chips and snack foods. And to further drive innovaMarch
2022 / World Grain / World-Grain.com
http://www.World-Grain.com
World Grain - March 2022

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