Milling Wheat Falling Numbers/ 04-05 grade

[TOM4CWB]

Eatmorewheat;

I was wondering if wheat freshly harvested must have a curing time (min. of 3-4 weeks) before an acurate falling number can be determined?

Further what date in Oct do the Canadian Grain Commission meet and establish the new standards for the 04-05 crop?

I have heard that a good #2 from 03-04 will possibly be a #1 in 04-05, is this the expectation of millers?

[melvill]

Tom, Jim Dexter, the milling research scientist at the Cdn. Gr. Com. in Winnipeg says the following about falling number (FN) and grain storage time:

"The short answer to your question is no.  It is true that over time FN will increase, but the rise is very slow and not huge, and would be mitigated by the relatively cool temperatures that we generally experience post harvest and through the winter.  It certainly, within the timeframe you are indicating, would not be enough to increase processing value.

[TOM4CWB]

Melvill;

Thankyou for this info!

Is Canada now the only country that does not use falling number and bu. weight to be the primary determinations in grading milling wheat?

How much is this costing our grain/wheat industry and farmers, in both undervaluation of good wheat that is of milling quality... as well as allowing bad wheat into the system that has low falling numbers?

It is interesting that the CWB/CGC can change the grade standards in a few weeks on visual sprouting standards... but falling numbers cannot be counted as a grading factor? WHY NOT?

Shouldn't the falling number be the best indication of damage from wet weather, why are we STILL ignoring the obvious?

[melvill]

Tom, more info on FN:
Grain Falling Number - How it Works

I've gotten several phone calls from farmers worried/concerned about visual grading versus actual milling quality of wheat. The concern is that wheat that visually grades, say #3 or #4 CWRS, may have milling qualities equivalent to a #2 CWRS in terms of gluten strength or alpha amylase activity.

I had a really good conversation with Donna Daniel, head of the grain enzyme lab at the Canadian Grain Commission. She was very helpful in explaining the falling number (FN) testing process.

The machines:
There are two machines essential in the process - a laboratory mill or grinder containing a 0.8 mm screen, a non-essential Shakematic and, believe it or not, an actual Falling Number Machine (FNM). The grinder costs about $7000Cdn. The Shakematic costs about $2000Cdn and a double FNM costs about $17,000Cdn. A double FNM is used to test two samples of the same grind at once so that results are verifiable. An appropriate grinder is manufactured by several companies. A single FNM machine is a little cheaper but it doesn't give same-sample verifiability.The FNM is only manufactured by Perten Instruments, www.perten.com , which manufactures a number of grain-chemistry-specific instruments.

The process:
A 300-gram sample of grain is ground. Fourteen grams (standardized to 14% moisture) of the grind is mixed with 25 ml of distilled water. The slurry is shaken 20 times by hand or placed in the Shakematic which is set for a standardized amount of shaking. The mixed slurry is placed in the FNM in a boiling water bath. The heat from hot water bath heats the slurry in a standardized way and gradually activitates the alpha amylase during the entire process.

As soon as the slurry is placed in the FNM it is stirred for 60 seconds . The stirrers, which are of a standard size, length and weight, are then released by the machine. The falling number is the time required for the stirrers to reach the bottom of the container. That time is measured by the FNM. The sample falling number includes the 60 seconds of stirring time so no sample can have a falling number of less than 60.

I took this information directly from the Perten web site:

"The Falling Number System measures the alpha-amylase enzyme activity in grain meal and flour to detect sprout damage, optimize flour enzyme activity and guarantee soundness of traded grain. ICC/No. 107/1, AACC/No. 56-81B, ISO/No. ISO/DIS 3093.
The principle of the Falling Number method is to use the starch contained in the sample as a substrate. The starch is rapidly gelatinized when the test tube with the sample suspended in water is inserted in a boiling water bath. Subsequently the alpha-amylase enzyme in the sample starts to liquefy the starch and the speed of liquefaction is dependant on the alpha-amylase activity. A high activity gives a faster liquefaction, which results in a lower Falling Number result and vice versa.
The Falling Number method is used at grain intake for segregation and classification of the grain and in the flour mill for monitoring incoming grain, control of blending of grain and flours and for calculation and control of malt or fungal enzyme addition. It is also used as a basic quality parameter when grain and flour is traded. In bread, too much alpha-amylase activity will cause wet sticky bread crumb with large voids in the loaf and too little causes dry crumble bread crumb and high loaf density.
The Falling Number System offers a rapid (approx.10 minutes) way to determine the quality of the starch and alpha-amylase interaction in a environmental friendly and low operating cost way. When a Falling Number test shall be performed on whole grain a hammer type Laboratory Mill is used to grind the grain."

Farmers are wondering if it is feasible to do falling number testing in elevators. The cost of equipment alone is likely to make it prohibitive. There are other problems, as well. The operation of the FNM must be in a very dust-free environment, but the grinder is very noisy and creates quite a bit of dust so the two machines must be housed separately or the grinder must be housed in an exhausted enclosure that is sound insulated.

FN testing takes time. The Perter web site says it takes 10 minutes. Donna Daniel says it takes closer to 30 to 45 minutes per sample including weighing and standardization.

The Canadian Grain Commission and other labs have been testing other more automated machines or methods to determine falling number but they haven't had any luck so far. The CGC has been testing a machine called the Starchmaster, which requires grinding the grain. FN tests with it vary plus or minus 30 points from the standard FNM. The CGC and other labs have been trying to use near infrared spectrometry (NIR) to preduct falling number but, using either ground or whole grain, was unsuccessful. Donna is hopeful that a quick, more automated and lower cost test is not more five years away.

FN testing is done in Canada by SGS (the largest), Biovision, Cargill (Winnipeg), Sask Pool (Regina), Agricore United (Winnipeg) and other labs. In addition there is a US company, whose name Donna couldn't remember, that is setting up shop here in Canada to do falling number testing. I haven't yet been able to find out what the private labs charge for the test.

FN testing is done at terminals during outbound handling, mostly with CWRS #3 and lower to make certain that the cargo meets specs. However, falling number in terminal position is seldom a problem with CWRS #1 or #2. Usually if there is a problem with falling number with #1 or #2 wheat, it is because the grain has been misgraded.

Any more questions?

Lee

[timm]

i took samples of what was graded feed in canada and got them graded and tested for falling #s in north dakota.it graded #1 dark northern 14% protein,60.3 lbs,368 falling #,4% damage.the grain elevators in u.s.have falling #s machines standard practise.the grading system in canada is adding insult to injury & most farmers dont have the guts to do anything about it

[wd9]

Grain Standards Meeting on Nov 9th. Rapid Visco Analyzer (RVA) is a rapid and new technology to determine FN (among other tests) and will probably be appearing in elevators someday soon.

[melvill]

wd9, tell me more about the new FN test and I'll quiz the grain research lab on their experience and/or research on it.

Lee

[wd9]

No big secret or quizing required, they all know about it, now you do too. See:
http://www.grainscanada.gc.ca/qualit_matter/rva-e.htm for more details.

[melvill]

we9, I found out more about the newer falling number (FN) tests:

The web site you pointed out (thanks, by the way) refers to a possible "rapid" test for falling number using equipment developed for other testing in Australia. The test is called a RapidViscoTM Analyser (RVA). The Cdn Gr. Com. research compared using the RVA and the much older, standard Hagberg test using Perten equipment to determine FN.

The testing of the RVA as a possible FN test was done at the CGC lab in Winnipeg by Dr. Dave Hatcher. The results of the evaluation of the RVA as a FN test aren't available publicly yet. The results, or intellectual property rights, are jointly owned by the CGC and the four grain companies that paid for the research work all bound by a non-disclosure agreement.

Anyway, here's how the RVA evaluation turned out. The RVA test has several advantages including a time advantage. The actual test takes only three minutes after the preparation - weighing, grinding, mixing with water, etc. The RVA test doesn't require a constant temperature water source for the instrument, unlike the old Hagberg FN test. It only requires a four-gram sample compared to seven grams using the traditional Hagberg FN test.

The RVA test has some disadvantages, though. The cost of RVA equipment is very similar to the FN test using Perten equipment. Training time to run the RVA test is half a day, about the same as the Hagberg test. However, since the sample tested is so small - four grams - technicians operating the equipment must be very, very precise in the preparation and measurement. Samples must be ground and that,like the old method, is still very, very noisy and dusty.

Correlation with the RVA method and older Hagberg FN method for determining FN, between FNs of 100 to roughly 375, is between 94 and 95%, which is very good. FNs above or below this range cannot be accurately measured by the RVA method.

One RVA lab has been installed at Cascadia Terminal in Vancouver and another will or has been installed in one other terminal to test incoming and outgoing grain. I wasn't able to find out which other terminal will be using the equipment.

So this "new" method, though somewhat better, is a ways from being the quickie, low cost FN test we're looking for.

[timm]

take a drive south ,practically every elevator has a f/#s machine .they use it on every load .it takes about 5 mins.

[Incognito]

Timm:

Its not too late to run for CWB director.


MNP/CWB (www.cwbelection.com)

[TOM4CWB]

Incognito;

Tim lives in an odd numbered CWB District... not that every CWB District is not "odd"!

No comment on the CWB contract thread Incognito..., how come?

Tim is right... it is amazing that every other country in the world has used falling numbers as a base for quality... for ever... and yet we must re-invent the wheel... and end up doing a falling number test in export position at Canadian Ports on every cargo anyway.

[Incognito]

I spent time on the Western Grain Standards Committee Tom in the mid-90's and they were talking about KVD and falling numbers then.

Its now 2004...this is an industry that doesn't want to change. Change has to occur from the farm up, not from Winnipeg down.

[timm]

this is really an issue between farmers and grain companies since the grain commission is in their back pockets.follow the money trail. check out cargills last quarter profits.its not the govt employees getting rich, they just dont have any balls.

[melvill]

timm, do you have direct experience with getting falling number evaluations on grain at US elevators or, at least, have you been to a US elevator and seen the testing done on every load.

If you have, please give me the company name and town or city of an elevator that does that so I can contact them to see how they do it and what their costs are.

Lee