Methods for Extracting Cereal Starches from Different Sources: A Review

The versatility of starch products is such that they are used as ingredients and functional supplements in a variety of food, nonfood, and feed applications. As starch is the largest constituent of cereal grains, there is an increasing interest in the isolation of the product from starch sources. Besides that, cereals are the main raw material used for the isolation and extraction of starch. The method of cereal starch isolation is influenced mainly by protein solubility, the level of protein-starch interaction, and characteristics of the starch granules. This review discusses traditional methods as well as recent advances in the extraction of cereal starches. The present review is important for understanding the effects of the particular characteristics of each cereal source in the starch extraction, including the size and morphology of starch granules, the composition of proteins with different solubilities, and protein-starch interactions. This information may avoid waste of reagents and unnecessary steps and facilitate the starch extraction process