Processing of maize germ oil cake into edible food grade meal and evaluation of its protein quality.

The commercial oil cake produced during expeller pressing of maize germ, was extracted with n-hexane and 80 percent ethanol followed by seiving to remove undesirable materials. In defatted maize germ oil cake (DMGOC): protein, starch, fat, crude fiber (CF) and ash were respectively 24.69, 36.55, 5.68, 7.56 and 3.90 percent and they decrease after processing except ash, which increased slightly. It contains better quality protein having only 3 percent zein and 47 percent albumin. Its amino acids like lysine and tryptophan and biological value (BV) were higher than that of whole maize grain, and was comparable with that of the amino acid requirement of preschool children and casein diets both. Its digestible energy (DE) was lower compared with whole maize grain as well as the casein diets. After processing albumin, globulin and zein decreased whereas glutelin and the residual fraction increased. Not much differences were observed in chemical composition and different amino acids, in vitro protein digestibility (IVPD), true digestibility (TD), BV and DE improved after processing.