Cereal product fortification: The B vitamins, with special reference to thiamine losses in baked products

Abstract Certain aspects of cereal product enrichment with vitamins of the B group, especially thiamine, are discussed with particular reference to wheaten flour and rice. Losses of thiamine during the baking of bread and certain cakes and biscuits were found by the thiochrome method to be 17.3–23.3%, 22.7–33.1% and 26.0–29.7%, respectively. During the toasting of bread, thiamine losses ranged from 13.4 to 31.0% depending on the thickness of the slice. There was no indication that thiamine is destroyed during fermentation of bread dough. It is suggested that some degree of enrichment of existing National flour, in addition to that of low extraction flours, may be desirable in Great Britain.