Presence of Starch/Protein Aggregates in the Endosperm of Corn

It is common knowledge that the presence of so called “grits” and other structures in process streams of the corn wet milling process leads to starch yield losses by incomplete starch/gluten separation. The nature of these problematic structures was investigated by isolating them from the process streams and analysing their morphology by means of epifluorescence microscopy using specific dyes. Additional evidence was obtained by specific enzymatic degradation and subsequent microscopic observation. Using the same technique on thin cross sections from whole corn kernels, the location and source of these structures could be identified. Grits are dense particles from the horny endosperm, consisting of a three dimensional honeycomb like protein matrix filled with small starch granules. Many grits show the regular cell shape found in endosperm cells and are still enclosed by the fibrous cell wall. In other process streams, aggregates of protein lumps with trapped large and small starch granules occur frequently. A small fraction of fibrous material was also found to be enclosed in the protein matrix. These “sticky” aggregates often occur along with a large percentage of extremely small starch granules or fragments. Occasionally, very small “grits”‐like particles were present. Based on these findings, explanations can be found for the loss of starch and for the difficulties in the starch‐gluten separation stage in the industrial corn wet milling process.