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The evaluation of wheat quality is complex, especially since on the one hand, agriculture is facing new constraints linked to climate change and on the other hand, it has to meet consumer expectations for more nutritious and healthier food.

The renewed interest in the use of wholegrain cereals and consumer expectations for more naturalness and a reduction of additives in food, reflected by "clean label" approaches, impose significant technological constraints on production and require a closer adaptation of the raw material to the processes. On this last point, part of the answer lies in better use of existing wheat cultivars, which implies a better characterization of their use-value.

Currently, the criteria used to determine this use-value are limited, relatively empirical, and oriented towards bakery use. Particular importance is also given to the bread-making trials designed for French common bread.

The ambition of EVAGRAIN is to design a Decision Support System (DSS) that will compute a general assessment of the wheat quality for various end-uses in the industry from analytical data provided by the user, and based on scientific and technological knowledge from the cereal sector.

A second objective is to design innovative analytical tests, if possible in real-time for greater reactivity, which will allow a better diagnosis of wheat quality by integrating non-protein components such as lipids, pentosans, and water into the target criteria.

Finally, the project intends to support knowledge transfer from cereal science and technology to economic actors of the cereal sector.

• Duration: 4 years (2021-2024)

• Coordination: Luc Saulnier (INRAE BIA)

• Partners:
  • INRAE BIA
  • INRAE UMR IATE
  • INRAE UMR SayFood
  • I2M
  • ARVALIS
  • AXIANE
  • Limagrain ingrédients
  • Spectralys
  • Walagri
  • Vegepolys Valley
• Budget: 660 k€