Could a corn by-product provide industry with new ‘stealth health’ ingredient?
Professor Padu Krishnan, of South Dakota State University developed the process to turn this coarse golden by-product of ethanol production – also referred to as distillers' dried grain (DDG) – into a food grade ingredient using a combination of industry standard techniques.
Most DDG is currently used as animal feed, but Krishnan envisages a different use for this processing by-product.
"How many times do you walk by a pile that is 36% protein and 40% fibre?” he asks.
Krishnan's process purifies the DDG, changing it from hard grain into a white powder similar flour. The end result is a high protein, high fibre ingredient that could be used to substitute flour in a number of food applications, says the researcher.