Skip to main content
ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #252175
Title: Perspectives on Wheat Quality: Why Does the Definition Keep Changing?

Author
item Bettge, Arthur
item FINNIE, SEAN - Katholieke University

Submitted to: Cereal Foods World
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/31/2010
Publication Date: 4/30/2010
Citation: Bettge, A.D., Finnie, S.M. 2010. Perspectives on Wheat Quality: Why Does the Definition Keep Changing?. Cereal Foods World. 55:128-131.

Interpretive Summary: At this October’s AACCI conference in Savannah, GA, a symposium, titled “Assessment of Grain Quality: From Breeding to Store Shelf” will feature six speakers who will discuss aspects of quality and meaningful current and potential testing methodologies. Since the definition of quality changes during each stage of the breeding, marketing, milling, and end-use of grain utilization process, the symposium will focus on new and novel analytical tools and techniques, based on cereal chemistry, appropriate to defining quality at each stage of grain production and utilization. Techniques discussed range from molecular marker technology to analyses of bioactive compounds. Newer, non-traditional methods of analysis will be emphasized. Basic chemical and molecular biological tests will be discussed to a greater extent than traditional analytical methods that have been used for many years. Also incorporated is a discussion of how knowledge gained from end-user feedback is reworked into new breeding strategies. Understanding what quality is, and how working definitions vary, provides the basis for informed, economically sound decisions in the marketplace.

Technical Abstract: At this October’s AACCI conference in Savannah, GA, a symposium, titled “Assessment of Grain Quality: From Breeding to Store Shelf” will feature six speakers who will discuss aspects of quality and meaningful current and potential testing methodologies. Since the definition of quality changes during each stage of the breeding, marketing, milling, and end-use of grain utilization process, the symposium will focus on new and novel analytical tools and techniques, based on cereal chemistry, appropriate to defining quality at each stage of grain production and utilization. Techniques discussed range from molecular marker technology to analyses of bioactive compounds. Newer, non-traditional methods of analysis will be emphasized. Basic chemical and molecular biological tests will be discussed to a greater extent than traditional analytical methods that have been used for many years. Also incorporated is a discussion of how knowledge gained from end-user feedback is reworked into new breeding strategies. Understanding what quality is, and how working definitions vary, provides the basis for informed, economically sound decisions in the marketplace.