Part 104

In respect of the analytical methods of determining the nutritive value of foods, they may be divided into chemical and physiological. The chemical methods embrace the thermal and artificial digestion investigations, and the physiological include those which are carried out with the help of the animal organisms. In the latter case the digestive process is checked by the analysis of the foods before ingestion and of the excreta of all kinds during and after digestion.

It is evident that a detailed description of this method should be looked for in works devoted to physiological chemistry.

CEREALS AND CEREAL FOODS.

=528. General Analysis.=—The cereals are prepared for analysis by grinding until the fragments pass a sieve having circular perforations half a millimeter in diameter. The moisture, ash, ether extract, proteids and carbohydrates are determined by some one of the processes already described in detail. In this country the methods of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists are generally followed. For convenience these methods are summarized below.

Moisture.—Dry from two to three grams of the fine-ground sample for five hours, at the temperature of boiling water, in a current of dry hydrogen. If the substance be held in a glass vessel, the latter should not be in contact with the boiling water.

Ash.—Char from two to three grams of the sample and burn to whiteness at the lowest possible red heat. If a white ash can not be obtained in this manner, exhaust the charred mass with water, collect the insoluble residue on a filter, burn it, add this ash to the residue from the evaporation of the aqueous extract and heat the whole to low redness until the ash is white.

Ether Extract.—Pure ether is prepared by washing the commercial article four or five times with water to free it of the chief part of the alcohol it contains. The residual water is mostly removed by treating the liquid with caustic soda or potash. Any residual alcohol or water is finally removed by the action of metallic sodium. The ether thus prepared is stoppered, after the evolution of hydrogen has ceased, and is kept over metallic sodium. Immediately before use it should be distilled out of contact with moist air.

The residue from the determination of moisture, as described above, is extracted in an appropriate apparatus (=39=) with the pure ether for sixteen hours. The extract is dried to constant weight. The weight may be checked by drying and weighing the extraction tube and its contents before and after the operation.

Crude Proteids.—Proceed as in the method of determining nitrogen in the absence of nitrates and multiply the weight of nitrogen obtained by 6.25. This factor is a general one, but should not be rigidly applied. In each instance, according to the nature of the cereal, the appropriate factor, pointed out in paragraph =407= should be used, and the factor 6.25 be applied only in those cases where a special factor is not given. The factors for the common cereals are wheat 5.70, rye 5.62, oats 6.06, maize 6.22, barley 5.82 and flaxseed 5.62.

For separating the proteid matters consult paragraphs =392-410=. In the case of wheat the methods of Teller may be consulted.

Amid Nitrogen.—The albuminoid nitrogen is determined as directed in paragraph =203= of volume II. The difference between this number and that representing the total nitrogen gives the nitrogen as amids.

Fiber and Carbohydrates.—The methods of analysis are described in detail in Part Third.

=529. Bread.=—In general, the same processes are followed in bread analysis as are used with cereals and flours. In addition to the regular analytical processes, breads are to be examined for adulterants, bleaching and coloring matters, and for the purpose of determining the changes which have taken place in their nutrient constituents in the processes of fermentation and cooking.

Temperature of Baking.—The interior of a loaf during the process of baking does not attain the high temperature commonly supposed. This temperature is rarely found to be more than one degree above the boiling point of water. In biscuits and other thin cakes, which become practically dry and which by reason of their thinness are the more readily penetrated by heat, the temperature may go as high as 110°.

Soluble Extract.—The quantity of matters both in flour and bread, soluble in cold water, is determined by extraction in the usual way and drying the extract. Soluble albuminoids, sugars and mineral salts are extracted by this process. When possible, the operation should be conducted both on the bread and the flour from which it is made.

Color.—In baker’s parlance is found an apparent contradiction of terms, since it speaks of bread with “no color” when the loaf is dark brown, while a white loaf is said to have a high color. An ideal color for the interior of a loaf is a light cream tint, which is more desirable than a pure white. The texture, odor and flavor of the loaf are also to be considered, but these are properties of more importance to the technical expert than to the analyst.

Quantity of Water.—It is not possible to set a rule of limitation in respect of the quantity of water a bread should hold. For full loaves, perhaps forty per cent is not too high a maximum, while some authors put it as low as thirty-four per cent. Some flours are capable of holding more water than others, and the loaf should have just enough water to impart to the slice of bread the requisite degree of softness and the proper texture. Most breads will have a content of water ranging from thirty to forty per cent. In biscuits and other thin cakes the moisture is much less in quantity.

Acidity.—The acidity of both bread and flour is determined by shaking ten grams of the sample with 200 cubic centimeters of distilled water for fifteen minutes, pouring the mass on a filter and titrating an aliquot part of the filtrate with tenth-normal alkali. The acidity is reckoned as lactic acid in the case of breads raised by fermentation.

Nature of Nitrogenous Compounds.—The methods of investigation are described in paragraphs =392-410=.

=530. Determination of Alum in Bread.=—The presence of alum in bread may be detected by means of logwood. Five grams of fresh logwood chips are digested with 100 cubic centimeters of amyl alcohol. One cubic centimeter of this decoction and the same quantity of a saturated solution of ammonium carbonate are mixed with ten grams of flour and an equal quantity of water. With pure flour, a slight pink tint is produced. In the presence of alum the color changes to a lavender or blue, which is persistent on heating.

The test may be varied by diluting five cubic centimeters of the reagents mentioned with ninety cubic centimeters of water and pouring the mixture over ten grams of the crumbled bread. After standing for five minutes, any residual liquid is poured off and the residue, washed once with a little water, is dried in a steam bath, when the blue color is developed if alum be present.

=531. Chemical Changes Produced by Baking.=—Changes of a chemical nature, produced in bread by baking, are found chiefly in modifications of the starch and proteids. The starch is partly converted into dextrin and the albumins are coagulated. The changes in digestion coefficient are determined by the methods which follow. The fermentations which precede the baking are due to the usual decompositions of the carbohydrates under the influence of yeast germs.

FODDERS, GRASSES AND ENSILAGE.

=532. General Principles.=—The analyst, in examining the fibrous foods of cattle, is expected to determine moisture, ash, fiber and other carbohydrates, ether extract and albuminoid and amid nitrogen. If a more exhaustive study be required, the sugar and starch are separated from the other non-nitrogenous matters, the carbohydrate bodies yielding furfuraldehyd separately determined and the ash subjected to a quantitive analysis. The processes are conducted in harmony with the principles and methods of procedure fully set forth in the preceding pages.

Green fodders and grasses are easily dried and sampled by comminution in the shredder described on page 9, and roots by that shown on page 10. The moisture is determined by drying a small sample of the shredded mass, while the rest of it is dried, first at about 60° and finally at 100°, or a little above, ground to a fine powder and subjected to analysis by methods already described. The food values as obtained by analysis should be compared, when possible, with those secured by natural and artificial digestion.

Ensilage is shredded and analyzed in precisely the same way, but in drying, the content of volatile acids formed during fermentation must be considered. In other words, the loss on drying ensilage at 100°, or slightly above, is due not only to the escape of water but also to the volatilization of the acetic acid, which is one of the final products of fermentation which the mass undergoes in the silo.

=533. Organic Acids in Ensilage.=—In the examination of ensilage, the organic acids which are present may be determined by the processes described in following paragraphs. The acetic acid, formed chiefly by fermentation, is conveniently determined by the method given for tobacco further on. Lactic acid is detected and estimated by expressing the juice from a sample of ensilage, removing the acetic acid by distillation, repeated once or twice, and treating the filtered residue with zinc carbonate in excess, filtering and determining the zinc lactate in the filtrate. The zinc is determined by the method described for evaporated apples and the lactic acid calculated from the weight of zinc found. Crystallized zinc lactate contains 18.18 per cent of water and 27.27 per cent of zinc oxid.

=534. Changes due to Fermentation in the Silo.=—Silage differs from green fodder in having less starch and sugar, more acetic and lactic acids and alcohol and a higher proportion of amid to albuminoid nitrogen. There is also a considerable loss of nitrogenous substances in ensilage, due probably to their conversion into ammonium acetate, which is lost on drying.