ABSTRACT
One of the most important uses of cereals is as raw material for the production of refined starches. The various types of wet-milling industries aim toward the extraction of the maximum possible amount of native or undamaged starch granules. By far, maize is the main source of refined starch in the world because of its availability, cost, high starch content (>70%), and value of its by-products: gluten, germ, and bran. It is estimated that more than 80% of the world’s starch comes from maize. In the year 2000, approximately 45 million tons of maize were wet milled in the United States for the production of sweeteners (high-fructose corn syrup and glucose), fuel and beverage alcohol, and industrial starches (Johnson and May, 2003).
