Miller Magazine Issue: 124 April 2020

57 COVER STORY MILLER / APRIL 2020 Egypt uses the best milling machines available in the market that are sup- plied by the Swiss company Bühler such as the batch mixer, which is a flour mixing machine. The mill has also a modern quality control laboratory equipped with the most important and most accurate devices for quality control such as Fa- rinograph, Extensograph, GlutoPeak from the German company Brabend- er. Glutomatic, Falling Number, Infra- matic and NIR analyzer devices from Perten are also available at Al-Taj Mill and Alveolab, Mixolab, SDmatic and EM10 Oven from Chopin Technolo- gies in addition to Granulation Plan- sifter, LabMill and Ash Oven from Bühler and Kadar device for protein analysis. There is also an integrated bakery for the purpose of con- trolling products’ quality and conducting rheological and baking examinations. All these devices and processes helped Al-Taj Mill to obtain a unique position in the Egyp- tian market in the fields of food technology and analysis, research and development as well as the field of training in respect to flour additives and improvers and added vita- mins according to the latest scientific standards and global specifications to become one of the leading companies of this industry in Egypt and other countries, of which Al-Haz- aa Investment Group operates in like Jordan, UAE, Iraq and Cyprus. Hence, we would like to clarify the terms of flour additives and flour improvers, and their importance, especially for the food industry and human nutrition. Flour additives can be defined as any substance added to manufactured flour in order to change one or some of its specifications. Flour additives are added to improve the natural and processed characteristics of flour so that the results are reflected on baked products in terms of improving the flavor, taste, ap- pearance, color, size and also extending their shelf life. On the other hand, flour improvers have become one of the most reliable products in the milling industry and in the production of pasta, noodles, biscuits, cakes, bread, piz- za and other products that use wheat flour, whether they are produced in factories, bakeries or even at home. Flour improvers can be defined as fine mixture of materials, en- zymes, emulsions, and vitamins in addition to other sub- stances that help to stabilize the dough and strengthen the gluten network. Flour improvers are used to perform several functions for flour and for other products made from flour, these func- tions are: • Improving the flour specifications to achieve better re- sults in the produced products • Improving the functions of flour ingredients such as pro- tein, starch, fats, mineral elements, vitamins and enzymes to suit the quality of the end product, whether it is baked product, biscuit, pasta, etc. • Extending the shelf life of end products, such as bread, to be up to two weeks • Improving the quality of products, for instance making the bread crumb softer, preventing flaking of the loaf face, giving the golden color for baked products and giving sym- metry for the product shape. • Overcoming problems caused by poor wheat quality, weakness of flour, low protein levels and low gluten quality which as a result makes the wheat more suitable for bread production by strengthening the gluten network • Giving pasta the distinctive yellow color and preventing any breakage or cracking after its production and prevent- ing the formation of starch and maintaining its shape while cooking • Increasing the volume of products like bread and cake and give the cake a spongy texture • Increasing water absorption in the dough which increases the number of loaves and results in better financial return