Corn is a staple food in many parts of the world. It is converted directly into food products via grinding, alkali processing, boiling/cooking, or fermentation. The need to produce more food for growing world population has been driving the modernization of the corn milling industry, seeking greater production combined with higher quality, efficiency, food safety and processes.
Corn is one of the most important cereals both for human and animal consumption. It is a primary food source in many areas of the world. It is grown in every continent except Antarctica. Demand for corn is growing as both a fresh and processed food. Due to increasing population there is more food demand, therefore corn can satisfy the food requirements as well as provide human nutrition along with number of health benefits. World corn production in 2018 is forecast to decrease sharply to nearly 1 045 million tons, down 46 million tons from 2017.
There are two main categories of industrial processing for converting corn into a product for human consumption: dry and wet milling. In the wet milling process, corn is separated into relatively pure chemical compound classes of starch, protein, oil, and fiber. Industrial dry milling includes particle size reduction of clean whole corn with or without screening separation, retaining all or some of the original corn germ and fiber. Degermination of corn involves mechanical separation and processing, resulting in dry shelf-stable products with a majority of both germ and fiber removed. Much of the particle size reduction and separation is accomplished with equipment similar to that employed in wheat flour milling, including hammer mills, stone mills, roller mills, screeners, sifters, specific gravity separators, and aspirators.
In this issue, we have reviewed the latest technologies for corn processing. Swiss technology firm Bühler introduced the LumoVision, a data-driven optical sorting system for corn, and the mobile corn analyzer GrainiGo. And Mr. Eduardo Vella, Commercial Technical Advisor in Brazilian Sangati Berga S.A, emphasized on important aspects of the processing of corn.