Wheat germ has an important enzymatic activity, being lipases the enzymes which cause the highest impact in the reduction of shelf life. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of infrared radiation on wheat germ stabilization in an attempt to extend the shelf life. The effects of treatment time, gap (sample distance to IR emitters) and infrared radiation intensity on wheat germ were analyzed through response surface methodology. Final moisture content, final temperature, color of germ and germ oil quality parameters: free fatty acid content changes and total tocopherol content were the responses evaluated using a Box-Behnken design. A combination of an infrared radiation intensity of 4800 W/m 2 , a 3 min treatment and 0.2 m emitter-sample distance were the best processing condition to stabilize the wheat germ without significantly reduction of the tocopherol content. A confirmatory experiment was conducted with these optimal conditions, and the heat-treated and raw germ samples were stored for 90 days at room temperature in three layer packages to protect them against light and oxygen. The oil quality parameters indicated that the raw germ had a shelflife of about 15 days, with the heat-treated wheat germ maintaining its quality for at least 90 days under these stored conditions.

Wheat germ is an abundant by-product of the milling industry, it has excellent nutritional qualities and high tocopherols content. The aim of this work was to study the kinetics of wheat germ drying in fluidised thin-layers by applying analytical solutions of the diffusion equation. Also, was determined the effective heat transfer coefficient by solving the macroscopic energy balance to contribute with the design and optimization of a thermal treatment for this product. Four air temperatures were studied in this work, 90-150°C. The heat transfer coefficients were estimated using experimental drying rates (7.87 to 16.55 W/m 2°C). The effective diffusion coefficient for water was determined to vary from 3.22 x 10-11 to 2.38 x 10-10 m 2 /s. The analytical solution for short times was not suitable for this high temperature process. Values of diffusion coefficient and activation energy (39.27 kJ/mol) were within the ranges expected for food drying at elevates temperatures.

Wheat germ is the embryo of de wheat seed, it contains a high tocopherol and protein content, and high quality proteins and fatty acids. Also, wheat germ has a considerable enzymatic activity that limits its shelf life. The aims of the study were to physically and sorptionally characterize wheat germ particles, select the more convenient model to describe the relationship between moisture content and water activity of wheat germ and to determine their design parameters of thermal fluidization process with air. The principal axes of the particle were measured by image analysis, and their dimensions and geometric parameters were calculated. Four isotherm models were fitted to experimental data. GAB model was the more accurate to explain the experimental data. The fixed bed density and the void fraction were measured. The fluid-dynamic studies permitted to determine laminar (277.46 ± 17.48) and turbulent (7.79 ± 0.69) coefficients of the Ergun equation and the minimum fluidization velocity (0.35 ± 0.02 m/s).

Summary The aim of this work was to analyse the influence of defatted almond flour on soya bean‐based gluten‐free pasta. Optimal cooking time of pasta varied between 2.0 and 3.5 min, while cooking loss ranged 6.1% and 19.7%. The total protein content of samples varied from 30.4% to 41.0% (dry basis, db) in cooked pasta. The total phenols content of cooked samples varied between 1.66 and 2.99 mg ellagic acid equivalent/g, while the antioxidant activity (DPPH•) ranged between 19.1% and 41.9%. The sensory test showed no significant differences between the formulated pasta samples among brightness (3.20–3.27), surface appearance (1.14–1.20), hardness (2.14–2.36) and elasticity (1.56–1.71). Pasta developed is an innovative product that improves nutritional and functional properties of gluten‐free pasta compared to gluten‐free and traditional wheat flour pasta available on market.