EFFECT OF PROCESSING ON THE CONTENT OF BETA-N-OXALYL-ALPHA, BETA-DIAMINOPROPIONIC ACID (BETA-ODAP) IN GRASS PEA (LATHYRUS-SATIVUS) SEEDS AND FLOUR AS DETERMINED BY FLOW-INJECTION ANALYSIS

The effect of cooking, roasting, autoclaving and fermentation on the c ontent of beta-ODAP in the whole seeds and flour of grass pea (Lathyru s sativus) were studied at different levels of temperature, time, pH, degree of soaking and moisture content. The method of determination us ed was flow injection analysis, with immobilised glutamate oxidase and horseradish peroxidase. The whole seeds flour was found to contain ab out 922 mg 100 g(-1) beta-ODAP in dry weight basis. The reduction of b eta-ODAP content, in samples which were cooked for 60min and roasted ( 150 degrees C for 60 min) was 57% and 82%, respectively. The content o f beta-ODAP in dry seeds autoclaved for 30 min also showed a significa nt (p = 0.05) reduction by 39%, as compared to that of raw whole seeds . Similarly, by cooking of presoaked seeds the content of beta-ODAP wa s reduced by up to 67%. Neither the back-slopped fermentation process nor the spontaneous fermentation were effective in reducing the conten t of beta-ODAP. Whereas roasting and autoclaving of the milled samples caused significant (p = 0.05) reduction in the content of beta-ODAP u p to 30% and 50%, respectively, compared to that of raw whole seeds. ( C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.