Wheat biscuit breakfast cereal

Fig. 18.1 Food/packaging configurations for transfer studies from secondary packaging to foods (Jickells et al., 2005) (a) chocolate-coated cream wafer bars single- and multi-pack format in corrugated board box (b) milk chocolate-coated wafer biscuits in cartonboard boxes (c) chocolate-coated ice-cream bars in cartonboard box (d) oatcake biscuits in cartonboard boxes (e) savoury crackers in cartonboard boxes (f) wheat biscuit breakfast cereal in cartonboard boxes (g) crisps (potato chips) in corrugated board box.

For studies carried out investigating the nature of foodstuffs, MPPO was replaced by wheat biscuit breakfast cereal (representing a dry foodstuff with low fat content), savoury biscuits (dry foodstuff with high fat content), butter (fatty foodstuff) or orange juice (acidic foodstuff). PP film was used as the primary packaging material for the studies with foods. Conclusions from the studies were as follows ... 

In most dry foods, starch is the main component responsible for a glassy state. This concerns several dry cereal products, like hard biscuits and various breakfast cereals. Figure 16.5 gives Tg for wheat starch, but if low-molar-mass components, generally sugars, are also present, the curve is shifted to lower temperatures, somewhere between those for starch and those for lactose. Another example is pasta, in the dry form in which it is commonly sold, which consists for the most part of wheat starch. Pasta has an impressive shelf life in the glassy state, and it readily takes up water upon cooking, to attain a soft rubbery texture. 

It is rather unfortunate that the term "cereals" has come to be associated with breakfast foods. The justification for this is that breakfast foods are products that are mostly made from cereals. However, products such as breads, cookies (biscuits), pastries, noodles, and pasta are usually not referred to as cereals. The more scientific definition of cereals is that they are cultivated grasses of the Gramineae family that include wheat, rice, maize (corn), barley, sorghum, oats, rye, millet, and triticale. The grain from these cereals provides a large proportion of the world s food. 

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