Defects and impurities of wheat

During harvesting and postharvest handling and storage of wheat at the farm, it becomes exposed to a wide range of foreign matter comprised of various types of seeds such as oats, barley, wild oats, corn, pea, flax, rapeseed, mustard, wild buckwheat and such.

In remote areas certain countries high levels of impurities such as sand or dust result from manual harvesting,

Quality attribute are measured using a multitude of specific tests designed or provide information on the various characteristics of grain.

These include the measurement for conditions such as kernel density; moisture; damage, broken or split kernels; impurities and other visual defects.

Wheat and other cereal grains are subject to government inspection and grading. In establishing the grain grades for wheat, certain defects and impurities in wheat have been identified as definitely affecting the yield and quality of the wheat.

With a proper grading system in place, as in major grain-exporting countries, tolerance level for all the factors listed as part of the grading factors is established. The grade-determining factors should be those that relate to sanitary quality purity, and soundness (absence of imperfections).

Consequently, it is important to consider some of the causes of these defects and their effect on the quality of wheat.
Defects and impurities of wheat