Determination of Cereal Alpha Amylase Using a Commercially Available Dye‐labelled Substrate

A new analytical method for the determination of α‐amylase in cereals and cereal products has been developed. The new method is based on the colorimetric measurement of the products released from a commercially available cross linked dye‐labelled starch substrate. This substrate is resistant to β‐amylase, but readily attacked by α‐amylase. The new method is quantitative, and measures cereal α‐amylase in milli International Enzyme Units. Also, the method is simple, rapid, and gives excellent correlations with viscometric and iodine achromatic point methods.