Starch — Value Addition by Modification

Starch is one of the most important but flexible food ingredients possessing value added attributes for innumerable industrial applications. Its various chemically modified derivatives offer a great scope of high technological value in both food and non-food industries. Modified starches are designed to overcome one or more of the shortcomings, such as loss of viscosity and thickening power upon cooking and storage, particularly at low pH, retrogradation characteristics, syneresis, etc., of native starches. Oxidation, esterification, hydroxyalkylation, dextrinization, and cross-linking are some of the modifications commonly employed to prepare starch derivatives. In a way, starch modification provides desirable functional attributes as well as offering economic alternative to other hydrocolloid ingredients, such as gums and mucilages, which are unreliable in quality and availability. Resistant starch, a highly retrograded starch fraction formed upon food processing, is another useful starch derivative. It exhibits the beneficial physiological effects of therapeutic and nutritional values akin to dietary fiber. There awaits considerable opportunity for future developments, especially for tailor-made starch derivatives with multiple modifications and with the desired functional and nutritional properties, although the problem of obtaining legislative approval for the use of novel starch derivatives in processed food formulations is still under debate. Nevertheless, it can be predicted that new ventures in starch modifications and their diverse applications will continue to be of great interest in applied research. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The author acknowledges the excellent assistance rendered by Mr. A.B. Vishu Kumar, Senior Research Fellow, during the preparation of this manuscript. Notes *Approximate value determined at 38°C. **The percentage values given are approximate.