Q. How to check Quality of grains?

Food grains for human consumption are whole or broken kernels of cereals, millets and pulses. According to PFA, they shall be free from added colouring matter. The food grains shall not contain any insecticide residues. The food grains meant for grinding and processing shall be clean, free from all impurities including foreign matter (extraneous matter).

Food grains, as you may already know, are available in many processed forms but are extensively used whole or as flours. It is much easier to clean and wash them before cooking or grinding but if ground without cleaning they may be mixed with items of poorer quality, drought resistant varieties which are hard to digest, not nutritious and unhygienic. Thus, to reduce the sanitary risk (food safety) of regulated agricultural products of plant origin intended for human consumption and use, the physical examination is not only important but also necessary for ensuring the food quality.

Quality, you would recall reading in the theory course, is usually defined as a ‘degree of excellence and includes such things as taste, appearance and nutritional content. It is the composite of characteristics - nature, kind, status, grade of goodness, excellence etc. - that have significance and which help in making the product acceptable'. The parameters of quality are the grades, standards of specifications laid down by the Government or expert bodies constituted for this purpose. The most important National Standards for quality, you should know by now, are the PFA Standards. At the International level, we have the FAO Standards and the International Codex Alimentarius Commission, which is the principal organ of a worldwide standard programme under the Joint Auspices of the FAO/WHO.