The main reasons of difference between the quality of bought wheat and the flour made in Russia

In recent years, Russia has returned to the number of world leaders in the production and export of wheat grain. However, a paradoxical situation has developed in the domestic wheat market. According to statistics, “almost no grain of the 1 and 2 grades (strong-valuable)” is produced in the country, and the various stores sell the top-grade flour which can be only produced (in accordance with GOST) from the grain of the 1-2 grades. The article tries to find out the reasons of the paradox. We have studied top-grade flour of three domestic producers, flour from France as well as flour and oilcake of seven varieties of domestic breeding listed in the State List as strong-valuable. For the comparative assessment we have used such efficient express-methods as electrophoresis of prolamins, SDS-sedimentation and estimation of protein content according to the Kjeldahl method. The study showed that the top-grade flour chosen for the analysis is soft (hexaploid) wheat and its gliadins do not possess alleles, which are negative for quality. SDS-sedimentation of the samples ‘Makfa’ and ‘Pudov’ corresponds to strong wheat; SDS-sedimentation of the samples ‘Petrovskie Nivy’ and ‘Ture 65’ corresponds to valuable wheat. The amount of protein in grain is on 1.6% more than in flour. The protein content in flour of domestic producers indicated on the packages does not correspond to the factual amount, and according to it the amount of protein in grain would be 13.7-15.2%, that corresponds to the grain of the 1-2 grades. GOST R 52189-2003 for wheat flour does not have any requirements to the protein content, and for grain such requirements are of great importance. For grain of the 1-2 grades, the requirements for the mass share of protein are overestimated in comparison with the scientifically justified restrictive norms on 0.5% (GOST 9353 "Wheat" (USSR) and DSTU 3768-98), and GOST R 52554-2006 itself does not give a right to maneuver in the procurement of grain, which takes place in the international requirements for some kinds of products from wheat. Such a situation is not normal. It discredits the selective achievements, misleads the state and agronomical services and requires amendments of GOST R 52554-2006 for grains of the 1-2 grades to reduce the protein content by 0.5%, and also to include in GOST R 5254-2006 “Wheat flour ...” the restrictive norms for the mass share of protein which come from the world experience (Fig. 2).