From discovering food sensitivities and allergies to setting new personal nutrition goals, the American diet is constantly evolving. The need for healthy, allergen-free alternatives is growing with these changing food preferences and requirements. One area that we have seen a particularly significant need for alternative options is the dairy industry. For those with lactose intolerance or dairy allergies, it can be difficult to gain the proper nutrition typically found in dairy products, and it can be even more rare to enjoy food products akin to milk, yogurt, or frozen desserts when one is avoiding dairy. In addition, these products are often highly restricted within dieting programs focused on weight loss and controlling heart disease, as they are typically high in fat and cholesterol.

Once again, oats play the hero in providing a solution for this challenge. Oat products, functional flours and oat fiber possess a variety of characteristics that make them ideal in formulations for dairy-free alternatives. Busch Grains’ Oat Fiber, Oat Hydrocolloid, Micro-Ground Oat Bran, Colloidal Whole Oat Flour, Low Viscosity Whole Oat Flour, hydrolyzed oat flour and CereSweet® are instrumental in achieving the ideal texture, taste, and nutritional composition of dairy-free products.

As an added bonus, Busch Grains’ oats are free from other common allergens, including gluten, soy, and nuts! Soy and nuts, such as almonds and cashews, are commonly used to provide dairy-free alternative products, but these products are not marketable to the large portion of the population with nut allergies. Oats are naturally free from gluten and are available gluten-free.

Busch Grains’ functional oat flours are available in a variety of viscosities to achieve a range of textures…

Texture

One persisting obstacle is achieving the ideal texture in alternative food products. Fortunately, oats can deliver a versatile range of textures, functioning in a variety of ways in different forms. Busch Grains’ functional oat flours are available in a variety of viscosities to achieve a range of textures. Our Oat Hydrocolloid contains gelling and emulsifying properties, while our Colloidal Whole Oat Flour acts as a thickener in sauces, soups, and dry mix beverage products. Our low-viscosity flours perform well in creamer formulations to achieve the ideal mouthfeel and low sugar formulas—though this is determined in part by the processing system being utilized. Many of our functional oat flours can be used to develop a smoothie with the ideal texture, and we offer oat bran, including Micro-Ground Oat Bran in customizable particle sizes, which can be combined with other synergistic ingredients to obtain differing textures.

Taste

Due to its high fat content, it can be a significant challenge to obtain the rich mouthfeel typically associated with cow’s milk. Busch Grains’ functional oat flours have been formulated to achieve a range of mouthfeel and flavors, from neutral toasted oat to sweet (40-50% of table sugar). In particular, our CereSweet contributes malty, sweet notes to beverages with low solids (>2%). This makes oat flour an ideal replacement for ingredients high in sugar and fat—offering a desirable flavor while maintaining superior nutritive properties.

Nutrition

Oats are lower in fat than cow’s milk and are much higher in fiber, making them far easier to digest (a common obstacle for those with lactose sensitivities). Oat milk also contains more protein than other plant-based milks, such as almond or rice milk. Our oat flour products offer a functional, nutritional, GI-tract-friendly solution for dairy-free formulations. For example, our Functional Flours function as effective fat replacements and taste enhancements for beverages with varying solids (e.g. >5%), such as meal replacement beverages.

All of our products are non-GMO and available in both Organic and Conventional forms, as well as optionally Gluten-free…

At Busch Grains, all of our products are non-GMO and available in both Organic and Conventional forms, as well as optionally Gluten-free. With our single-source advantage, we are positioned to provide our partners with quality ingredients, tailored formulations, and personalized expertise in research and development of new products.

If you would like to request a sample or further discuss Busch Grains’ oat fiber or functional oat flour ingredients within your application, we look forward to learning more. We specialize in partnering with food and beverage developers to create unique, innovative ingredients that help you succeed.

Email us or give us a call at 541.687.8000 to get in contact with an expert.

The post The oat: A KEY INGREDIENT IN DAIRY-FREE ALTERNATIVE FOOD PRODUCTS appeared first on Busch Grains.

As the keto diet has gained popularity, the food and beverage industry has risen to meet the occasion, with products and lines specifically labeled keto and entire brands dedicated to the keto community. Many keto bread recipes continue to use wheat flour, which is high in carbs—resulting in a still relatively high carb “keto” bread. With approximately 12 g carbs per serving, this leaves room for one slice a day while continuing to prioritize the consumption of fruits and vegetables. Other keto bread products achieve a low carb count by incorporating foreign-sounding ingredients such as protein isolates, inulin, and resistant starches.

…you can bake your keto bread and eat it too.

Enter Oat Fiber

With the addition of Busch Grains’ oat fiber, you can bake your keto bread and eat it too, along with your customers. This versatile ingredient offers the texturization, moisture regulation, and shelf-life-extension of traditional grain breads. While oat fiber does fall within the category of carbohydrates, because it is an insoluble fiber content is deducted from the quantity of “net carbs” counted by those following the keto diet. The utilization of oat fiber therefore allows for a keto product lower in net carbs. Oat fiber can be instrumental in controlling the texture of high-fat keto food products while also preventing bowel obstruction often associated with the keto diet. With its mild oat and familiar flavor, it also achieves better tasting low-carb formulations.

Keto dieters are consistently looking for new and higher quality products that meet their needs and satisfy their taste buds. The demand is there, and they are eager to try innovative keto products.

Email us or give us a call at 541.687.8000 to get in contact with an expert.

The post THE IMPLICATIONS OF OAT FIBER FOR KETO BREAD APPLICATIONS appeared first on Busch Grains.

Although oats are naturally gluten-free, they can become contaminated by gluten-containing grains as the supply moves from the field, to on-farm storage, to trucks and railcars and eventually through the mill. In 2008, Busch Grains began pioneering a proprietary gluten-free oat production process, giving us the ability to remove gluten-containing grains from the oat stream and offering the purest possible oat products. Thus meeting nutritional desires and dietary needs of the growing gluten-free consumer base.

In 2008, Busch Grains began pioneering a proprietary gluten-free oat production process…

After installation of our gluten-free milling system, it wasn’t as simple as notifying the industry we now had gluten-free oat products. The certification process involved multiple on-site visits and nearly 1,000 individual samples. Our gluten-free milling flow was audited from top to bottom for its ability to produce oat products that met the FDA’s standards time and time again. We completed the certification with the help of BRCGS, utilizing their Gluten-Free Management System. We continue to operate this system with same stringent checkpoints and robust sampling procedures we used to achieve our certification.

Why Gluten-Free Oats?

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, and crossbreeds such as triticale (a hybrid of wheat and rye). Celiac disease; a genetic autoimmune disease that limits a person’s ability to digest gluten, affects 1 in 100 people worldwide. It is estimated that another 6-7% of the population may have a sensitivity or intolerance to gluten. In an effort to regulate the food system, the FDA set a limit of 20 parts per million (ppm) for the unavoidable presence of gluten in foods that are labeled as “gluten-free.” This amount is so low that it is tolerated by most people with Celiac disease.

Gluten-Free Oats Production Process

Busch Grains’ gluten-free oats are processed in a way that effectively removes all wheat, barley, rye and hybridized grains that may possibly arrive at our facilities with the oats. Through our dedicated gluten-free cleaning process, we isolate a highly pure groat stream that is further purified and refined in our dedicated gluten-free milling system. (A groat is the nutritious grain of an oat after its outer husk has been removed. Groats are rolled into the “rolled oats” that we know and love).

Busch Grains dedicated gluten-free milling system took years to develop and perfect, and we regard it as Top Secret! Although the machinery we use in the process are important, our team of mill operators are a vital part of the process, responsible for monitoring and adjusting the equipment. Our millers have been educated about celiac disease and have been trained on both Busch Grains gluten-free milling practices and the specifics of gluten-free testing.

Busch Grains dedicated gluten-free milling system took years to develop and perfect, and we regard it as Top Secret!

Our dedicated mill operators would tell you they could not perform their duties without the help of our lab staff who are responsible for verifying all gluten-free samples meet our <10ppm gluten specification. Our lab staff performs the rigors of gluten-free testing in dedicated gluten-free clean rooms.

How Does the Gluten-Free Equipment Work?

While cleaning and purifying grain stream is simple in concept, there’s a lot that goes into deploying this technology to and repeatedly achieves the desired results. We like to think that there are equal parts art and science that go into configuring and operating grain cleaning systems. So, we don’t know whether to call our millers artists or scientists, but in reality, they are a little bit of both. We’ll just settle on calling them awesome!

Our 4-generations of oat milling experience led us to believe we could achieve <10ppm on every load of oats from any of our dedicated farmers and the installation of our gluten-free lines and their continued performance has a proven this to be true. Our record of achieving gluten-free results through processing was proven to exceed that of the Purity Protocol strategy of excluding the presence of gluten-containing grains only at the farm and transportation levels of the supply chain. 

Our 4-generations of oat milling experience led us to believe we could achieve <10ppm on every load of oats from any of our dedicated farmers…

In direct cross-examination of Purity Protocol gluten-free oats and Busch Grains gluten-free oats, a 2018 study completed by the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America showed Busch Grains’ gluten-free oats in the table below. During the completion the study Busch Grains gluten-free products were analyzed using a ≈70% larger sample pool than that of the Purity Protocol gluten-free products. A copy of that study is available here for download.

Seed cleaning of grains has existed for decades if not centuries. In order for farm purity programs to be successful, harvested grain which will be used for seed in upcoming crop years, periodically requires cleaning to mitigate increased contamination levels other grains and weed seeds in subsequent crops. With our knowledge that oats are routinely purified for seed planting, we thought, “Why not then also for consumption?”

Busch Grains Oats Exceed Gluten-Free Regulations

In addition to rigorous process, we take samples of the gluten-free groat stream every 3 minutes of production to further ensure that it is pure. In order for oats to be certified gluten-free, gluten levels must be less than .002% or 20 ppm.

Our goal was never to merely meet the strict regulatory limit of 20 ppm—we wanted to see just how pure we could get our oat products! We’ve perfected our gluten-free production process to the point where most of our customers depend on us to supply oat ingredients that are less than 10 ppm–a 100% improvement in the purity level required for gluten-free labeling.

Gluten-Free Oat Production Doubled

The need for certified gluten-free oats has continued to rise. In response, we have invested in a major expansion at our oat mill in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada. This expansion has more than tripled our gluten-free production capacity, giving us one of the most advanced oat mills in the world strategically located in the heart of some of the most fertile oat acreage in North America. We can depend on our local oat farmers to supply us with the best oats on the continent that we care for and mill into the highest quality gluten-free oats from Busch Grains, they are receiving much more than a standard oat-based ingredient. As with all our products, the work we do producing gluten-free products is more than processing, it’s our promise.

Other Gluten-Free Grains and Seeds

Busch Grains offers many other grains, seeds, and pulses that are naturally gluten-free. These ingredients can be great alternatives to gluten-containing grains. They do not encounter gluten throughout their process and do not require any additional processing to ensure they are gluten-free.

• Corn, corn meal, corn flour, corn grits, corn bran
• Flax, flax meal
• Brown and white long-grain rice
• Soybeans (non-GMO natto, white hilum, high protein)
• Quinoa (white, red, black, tricolor)
• Tapioca starch
• Amaranth
• Lentils (green, brown, black, split red)
• Mustard (brown, yellow)
• Pumpkin seeds
• Sunflower seeds
• Chia seeds
• Sesame seeds

In addition to being a gluten free oat supplier, Busch Grains also offers certifications such as organically certified, non-GMO, kosher, and halal.

We specialize in partnering with food and beverage developers to create unique, innovative ingredients that help you succeed. If you have questions about our gluten-free ingredients, or anything else, we’re always happy to help you.

Email us or give us a call at +1 (323) 686-2779to get in contact with an expert.

The post Busch Grains Gluten-Free Oat Products – A Pioneered, Proven, Promise. appeared first on Busch Grains.

On The Surface

Oat fiber is the result of processing an oat’s hull—that is, the outermost, indigestible seed-covering in which the groat is enclosed. In contrast, oat bran is derived from the outermost, edible covering of the groat itself.

Oat Fiber

Light in color and mild in flavor, oat fiber is comprised of primarily insoluble fiber, making it an ideal calorie controller and supporter of gastro-intestinal health (particularly, bulking). Oat fiber can extend the shelf-life of food products due to its water absorption properties and has a variety of texturizing functions applicable to baked goods, meats, and beverages.

Oat fiber is versatile in that it can increase the crumbling texture of pastries while thickening batters and marinades. It can also be used to preserve the crispy or crunchy quality of foods while reducing friability and breakage – creating the perfect tortilla chips or crackers. Still another impressive attribute of this multi-talented ingredient is its ability to increase water absorption while also moderating the rate of water retention, regulating the moisture of the food item and, in some instances, functioning as an anti-caking agent.

Oat Bran

Oat bran, medium brown and rich in flavor, is comprised of mainly soluble fiber, making it an effective anticholesteremic. This oat product is also very useful for altering texture in a variety of ways. Available in different particle sizes, oat bran can be used to improve texture and absorption, increasing crumb moistness for soft, chewy pastries. In a medium particle size, oat bran can also serve as a fitting topping for baked goods.

Clean Label Dietary Fiber

Pure and chemical-free, Busch Grains oat bran and oat fiber ingredients are extremely beneficial in increasing dietary fiber content and achieving the optimal texture in your food products.

Learn more about Oat Fiber >

Learn more about Oat Bran >

If you would like to request a sample or discuss the various oat fiber and oat bran options Busch Grains offers and how they might help your formulations, we would love the opportunity to speak with you. We specialize in partnering with food and beverage developers to create unique, innovative ingredients that help you succeed.

Email us or give us a call at 541.687.8000 to get in contact with the appropriate expert.

The post Oat Fiber vs. Oat Bran: What’s the Difference? appeared first on Busch Grains.

Fiber has proven to be making a comeback for benefits beyond heart health and lowering cholesterol (FDA continues to list dietary fiber as one of the top three “nutrients to get more of,” because “diets higher in dietary fiber can reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.”¹) The latest research is showing that fiber is also a key component to a healthy gut microbiome. And a healthy gut microbiome is key to overall health.

We all know by now that adding fiber in baked goods, whether oat fiber or otherwise, will increase the Total Dietary Fiber (TDF) content.  But did you know that Grain Millers Oat Fiber will do so much more?

Whether you are formulating for breads, sweet goods, cookies, bars, chips, ready-to-eat cereals, or crackers, you may be surprised at how oat fiber can help you reach your goals.

1. CLEAN LABEL

Busch Grains pioneered a milling-based, chemical-free oat fiber manufacturing process, which ensures product developers can create products with a true source of clean-label dietary fiber.

Unlike other brands of oat fiber and sources of dietary fiber, nothing is added and nothing is taken away in the Busch Grains process – we never use caustic acids or chemicals which can strip lignin and other nutrients from the oat hull.

As the clean label initiative grows, developers can have confidence that Busch Grains oat fiber meets their clean label guidelines for wholesome ingredients. Oat fiber from Busch Grains can be simply labeled as Oat Fiber. It is non-GMO and available gluten-free, organically certified, or conventional.

2. INCREASE TOTAL DIETARY FIBER (TDF)

Busch Grains oat fiber is very high in total dietary fiber (more than double that of wheat bran), making it easier than ever to reach a “good” or “excellent” source of dietary fiber claim.

3. LOWER COST

Busch Grains oat fiber is plentiful and low in cost compared to Inulin, pea, chicory, even other oat fiber, as well as other sources of dietary fiber. Oat fiber may also be able to replace or partially replace the functionality of other ingredients in a formulation, such as gums, anti-caking agents, fat replacers, or emulsifiers. This means developers can use oat fiber to lower formula costs.

4. DECREASE CALORIES

The dietary fiber content of Busch Grains oat fiber contributes zero calories and has significantly fewer calories per gram than most other bakery ingredients, meaning that formulating with oat fiber will help lower calories in your finished products. The calorie content of oat fiber is 24kcal per 100g, which is very low compared to other main baking ingredients such as wheat flour and wheat bran which are 350 and 216, respectively. Oat fiber also increases water absorption which further helps to reduce calories.

5. INCREASE SHELF LIFE

Since Busch Grains’ oat fiber has high water absorption, it can potentially delay staling and extend shelf life. Oat fiber can also help improve eating qualities such as texture and mouthfeel in the finished product. 

6. RECOGNIZED BY FDA AS DIETARY FIBER

In June 2018 the FDA updated the fiber regulations, giving product developers the official approval to use oat fiber as dietary fiber in baked goods. This is great news for the baking industry since oat fiber is one of the top dietary fibers used in baked goods.

Oat fiber has been and will continue to be a key ingredient in baked goods. Busch Grains’ oat fiber is not only high in total dietary fiber, but has the added benefits of being minimally processed, clean label, and low calorie with multiple functional benefits which can assist bakery product developers and bakery consumer product companies to provide healthy bakery goods to consumers. Along with protein, fiber is one of the key nutrients that consumers seek out for a healthy diet.

In future posts, we’ll dive into how oat fiber assists developers with applications beyond bakery.

If you would like to request a sample or discuss the various oat fibers Busch Grains offers and how they might help your formulations, we would love the opportunity to speak with you. We specialize in partnering with food and beverage developers to create unique, innovative ingredients that help you succeed.

Will you be at the IBIE show Sept. 8-11? Stop by our booth #221.

You may also email us or give us a call at 541.687.8000 to get in contact with the appropriate expert.

Related: Baking With High Fiber in Sweet Goods

References:
1. “Key Nutrients and Your Health”

The post 6 Ways Baked Goods & Snacks Can Benefit From Oat Fiber appeared first on Busch Grains.

Here are the top three trends we noticed at the show.

1. Oat Beverages and Oat Bases
   

Oat-based beverages took front-and-center stage for new product attention. From oat “milks” to oat-based ice cream, this heart-healthy, plant-based ingredient is a nutritional powerhouse and offers many functional properties to assist in your formulations. As an added bonus, it’s available gluten-free and organically certified.

Busch Grains offers a wide range of oat flours with many different functionalities for use in a variety of applications. In fact, we saw this trend coming and wrote an article all about how our various specialty oat flours can be formulated in beverages and bases.  

2. Plant-Based Meat Alternatives & Snacks

Food companies are getting extremely creative with vegan “meat” products and protein-packed snacks. From “meat” patties to snacks packed with plant-based protein, there are many more vegan options coming to store shelves soon.

Oats and oat fiber can play an important role in formulating for plant-based products. In addition to being vegan, they are also available gluten-free and organically certified. Busch Grains’ Oat Fiber is a chemical-free, clean label ingredient with a myriad of functional properties to assist in plant-based formulation, from moisture retention to texture to breakage reduction in low-moisture food systems and more.

3. Digestive Health

It’s becoming more apparent that a healthy gut is important to our overall health. Because of this, food and beverage companies are introducing symbiotic gut-healthy products that focus on fiber as a prebiotic and fortifying with probiotics.

Oat hull fiber and oat bran are important clean label ingredients packed with soluble and insoluble dietary fiber in addition to flavor, nutrition, health benefits, synergistic functionality, processability, texture, and more. Oats pack a punch as a key ingredient not only to digestive health since they are high in total dietary fiber, but also for heart health thanks to the beta-glucans. Flax is another high-fiber ingredient for use in a myriad of applications and available whole, milled, or in a custom blend.

We would welcome the opportunity to learn more about your plant-based formulation needs and partner with you to find the solution that fits. To get in touch with one of our technical experts, please email us or call 541.341.6461.

Suggested Articles

What is Oat Fiber?

These 6 Oat Flours are Revolutionizing Beverage Formulation

The post Top 3 Food & Beverage Trends for 2019 appeared first on Busch Grains.

You may have seen oat milk starting to pop up next to the soy and almond milk on grocery store shelves lately, each with a slightly different texture, flavor, and nutrition profile. Whether a developer is seeking flavor, nutrition, health benefits, synergistic functionality, processability, or texture, Busch Grains offers a wide range of functional oat flours, which can provide solutions to many formulation challenges.

OAT FLOUR IS NOT ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL

Busch Grains’ Functional Flours, with their wide range of properties, can uniquely control important characteristics such as thickening and gelling, stabilization, mouthfeel, and dispersion in your end product. Busch Grains is known for its state-of-the-art oat manufacturing capabilities and we are using that expertise to develop oat products that are relevant to the explosive and rapidly changing beverage market.

“No one functional oat flour is one-size-fits-all, which is why Busch Grains manufactures a variety of flours using different milling techniques,” explains Roberto Serrano, Vice President of Product Development. “Each has its own functionality that accommodates various textures, flavors, sweetness, and nutrition requirements.”

From wet processing (UHT, ESL, retort, hot fill, HPP, PEF, tetra pak, etc.) to dry mixes and more, the Busch Grains line of oat flours will provide the variety of tools necessary to meet your objective.

RANGE OF OAT FLOUR MODIFICATION & FUNCTIONALITY

The following two charts outline the characterizations of each of Busch Grains’ Functional Oat Flours. This first chart shows the particle size in relation to the degree of flavor and/or sweetness modifications.

This second chart illustrates the rheological properties of the various oat flours by using the Rapid Visco Analyzer (RVA) and specifically comparing viscosity in relation to temperature and rate of hydration. This rheological comparison may assist the user in establishing the best processing conditions.

OAT FLOUR PERFORMANCE IN COMMON BEVERAGE BASES

While we have witnessed the use of these oat flours in numerous applications, the performance of each one depends on your specific processing system and desired end-product. Below is some direction on how each of these flours performs in common beverage bases, but ultimately it will depend on your specific processing formula and system.

• Beverages with low solids (>2%): You may be able to utilize a whole oat flour or if you would like to add pronounced “malty,” oat-flavor notes and a high degree of sweetness, CereSweet® 16 and 40 may be a great option.
• Beverages with high solids (>5%): With the goal of delivering nutrition per serving, beverages with high solids require a flour with lower viscosity, such as our Low-Viscosity Whole Oat Flour or Ceresweet® 16.
• Creamers: The struggle with creamers is that they have higher solids to improve mouthfeel, but still go through a customized high-pressure homogenization which is typical in the dairy industry. A very low viscosity flour typically does well but it depends on the system used.
• Smoothies: The textural beauty of this base is that it offers the ability to use a wider range of oat flours.
• Mixing oat bases with other ingredients: This can provide the benefit of combining the best of multiple bases with their unique consumer health benefits. The texture is driven by the process used, including the pH, flavor combinations, and synergistic ingredients (i.e. emulsifiers, stabilizers, etc.)
• Functional, nutritional, and meal replacements: Our CereSweet® 16 & 40 and Low-Viscosity Whole Oat Flour are easily digestible and designed with these applications in mind.

CLEAN LABELING AND CERTIFICATIONS

Most oat flours from Busch Grains can be labeled as Whole Oat Flour or Oat Flour and whole grain. All are clean label, non-GMO, and available organically certified or conventional. Most are also available gluten-free. (Low Viscosity Whole Oat Flour isn’t available GF yet, but it’s in the works.)

If you would like to request a sample or discuss how our functional oat flours might help with your formulation needs, we would love the opportunity to speak with you. We specialize in partnering with food and beverage developers to create unique, innovative ingredients that help you succeed.

Email us or give us a call at 541.341.6461 to get in contact with the appropriate expert.

The post These 6 Oat Flours Are Revolutionizing Beverage Formulation appeared first on Busch Grains.

Dietary fiber is a current hot topic and oat fiber can be a game-changer to some food developers. But what exactly is oat fiber? To properly answer this question, one must look at composition and its distribution throughout the entire oat kernel. In short, oat fiber as a manufactured ingredient is typically an insoluble fiber composed of lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose derived from the oat hull, or the outermost protective seed-coat of the oat kernel.

OAT KERNEL

The oat hull is rich in non-starch polysaccharides (especially xylan and glucan, also arabinan and galactan), forming complex and intricate fibrils. These fibrils exhibit texturally rigid or crystalline micro-structures with high aspect ratios composed primarily of ligno-celluloses (~70%) intermeshed with texturally softer and amorphous structures composed primarily of hemicelluloses (~30%) (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 – Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM) image of fragmented
oat hulls illustrating crystalline and amorphous structures.

Once de-hulled, the hull-less kernel is commonly referred to as a groat. The groat also exhibits compositionally similar protective tissues referred to as the bran layers (pericarp & testa).

COMPOSITION OF OAT FIBERS

Both seed coats – the hulls and the bran layers – are rich sources of dietary fibers. The hull exhibits a typical Total Dietary Fiber (TDF) of ~85%, with its majority (> 98%) being of the insoluble type. The bran, on the other hand, is ~16% TDF with approximately 65% being insoluble and 35% soluble. (Mindful of geographical factors, agricultural practices, and varietal differences within above estimates).

Both fibrous tissues have relevance as excellent sources of dietary fiber, but the presence of a significant portion (approx. 80%) of the soluble fiber-fraction, beta-glucans, has made oat bran – and oats in general – more popular among consumers. This popularity was catalyzed when oat bran became the first food recognized by the FDA in 1997 as having therapeutic merits, thereby able to carry a health-claim label (i.e. anticholesteremic properties).¹

FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES

The oat hull exhibits a higher TDF content (primarily insoluble fiber), arguably becoming the preferred raw material source for oat fiber manufacturing and ingredient development. Oat-hull fiber is used for dietary-fiber enrichment and as a multi-functional food ingredient. It acts as a water-activity modulator, bread-crumb humectant, texturizer, friability reducer in low-moisture baked goods, calorie controller, and more. From a physiological aspect, oat-hull fiber is recognized as an excellent participant in promoting gastrointestinal wellness, bulking in particular.

OAT-HULL FIBER DIFFERENCES

Traditional technologies for manufacturing oat-hull fiber have been centered around wood pulp & paper technology. This includes the manufacture of chemically refined versions such as fibers produced using alkaline hydrogen-peroxide [AHO] to hydrolyze and de-lignify the raw oat hulls.²

In 2001, Busch Grains, Inc. (GMI) recognized the need to offer a “natural” (non-chemically refined) oat-hull fiber alternative. Something that would not impact the environment and would retain endogenous phytonutrients, yet maintain oat-fiber functionality. This was achieved through a proprietary, organically certified manufacturing process without the use of chemicals. To this end, in 2009, Health Canada approved GMI’s oat-hull fiber as a dietary fiber within the Canadian market based on the safety and physiological efficacy demonstrated through human clinical studies.³

Fig. 2

Not all oat hull fibers are equal. Oat-fiber products such as those from GMI contain all of the lignin and other naturally occurring components of the raw plant with physiological benefits, particularly bulking, in humans. This is detailed in the Public Comment filed with the FDA on Feb. 8, 2017. In contrast, oat hulls processed with alkaline hydrogen peroxide are stripped of lignin and other naturally occurring nutrients.

To learn more about the benefits and functionality of GMI’s oat fiber in food formulation and the various types of oat fiber that Busch Grains offers, visit our Oat Fiber page or email us to be put in touch with your fiber expert.

Sources
¹ TITLE 21—FOOD AND DRUGS, PART 101 –FOOD LABELING, Sec. 101.81 Health claims: Soluble fiber from certain foods and risk of coronary heart disease (CHD).
² Fiber Ingredients: Food Applications and Health Benefits (2009) J. Bodner and Susan S. Cho
³ You are welcome to contact GMI for additional details.

The post What is Oat Fiber? appeared first on Busch Grains.

Pair this with the hot topic of the FDA’s recent work on better defining what constitutes as fiber. In June, new guidelines were announced on what can be labeled as “dietary fiber.”

However, baking with fiber won’t do any good if you can’t bake with it correctly.

How do you make high fiber sweet goods like muffins or even croissants?

Why is fiber difficult to bake with? Does it have to be?

Why do most high-fiber baked goods taste like cardboard, and how do you avoid that?

What’s the big deal with putting fiber in sweet goods anyways?

In a recent podcast with BAKERpedia, Lin Carson chats with experts who will cover these topics.

To help explain what the new fiber regulations mean for the baking industry, the economic impact, and what else is on the horizon in way of regulations, she chats with Lee Sanders, Senior Vice President, Government Relations & Public Affairs / Corporate Secretary for the American Bakers Association.

And to answer your questions about baking with fiber, Lin chats with our own Roberto Serrano, Vice President of Product Development here at Busch Grains. He’ll cover how our work with oat fiber is changing the way fiber is used in baking, from water absorption and a gelling capacity that mimics hydrocolloids, to playing a significant role in replacing fat.

Listen to the podcast below or over on BAKERpedia.

Please leave a comment if you have more questions and we’d be happy to answer.

The post Baking With High Fiber in Sweet Goods appeared first on Busch Grains.