Resource distribution and processing quality of commercial wheat germ in China

In order to get a clear picture of resource distribution and processing quality of the commercial wheat germ in China, wheat germ samples were collected from domestic large-scale wheat flour enterprises based on an elaborate survey of China’s wheat germ resource distribution. Nutritional composition and quality difference were analyzed, microbial contamination of wheat germ was determined as well. The results show that the amount of annual usable wheat germ is about 0.2 million tons actually, which are mainly concentrated in Shandong, Henan and Hebei province. The average acid value of commercial wheat germ is 22.80 mg/g, while the highest is up to 60.4 mg/g in summer. The average water content of wheat germ is 12.10%, protein content is 33.07% (in which the average lysine content is 2.10%), crude fat is 11.12% (in which the content of linoleic acid is 58.34%), α-tocopherol content is 0.23%, total colonies is 2.65×104 cfu/g. The scientific investigation and assessment of wheat germ resources can provide a reference for the development of national food industry and grain process enterprises.