REMOVAL OF CYANOGENIC GLYCOSIDES OF FLAXSEED MEAL

Flaxseed meals were prepared by a two-phase solvent extraction system consisting of hexanes and an alkanol (methanol, ethanol or isopropanol ) phase with or without added water and/or ammonia. The effect of the extraction process on the contents of protein and cyanogenic glycoside s in the meals was studied. The crude protein content of the extracted meals varied from 43.5 to 48.6, compared with a value of 41.2% for he xane-extracted meals. Of the 4.42 mg/g linustatin and 1.90 mg/g neolin ustatin originally present in the meals, over 90% of each cyanogenic g lycoside was removed under optimum conditions using methanolic solutio ns.