Dielectric properties of wheat flour mixed with oat meal

Possibilities of using electric methods for determining admixtures of oat meal to wheat flour, type 650 are presented. In wheat flour, oat meal and mixtures containing 10, 20 and 30% of the oat meal, moisture, protein, starch and ash content, sedimentation value, yield and softening of wet gluten were determined. In samples containing 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 100% of oat meal, the dielectric loss factor and conductivity were determined using an impedance analyzer for electromagnetic field frequency ranging from 0.1-20 kHz. It was found that the dielectric loss factor varied for tested material. The best distinguishing between tested mixtures was obtained at the measuring electromagnetic field frequency of 20 kHz. The loss factor was significantly correlated with the yield of wet gluten and the sedimentation value, parameters indicating the amount and quality of gluten proteins in flour.