Kinetics of degradation of ODAP in Lathyrus sativus L. flour during food processing

A nonprotein neurotoxic amino acid, β-N-oxalyl-l-2,3-diaminopropionic acid (ODAP), found in Lathyrus sativus (grass pea or chickling vetch) seeds is known to be relatively heat stable. The present study aims at development of a kinetic model for degradation of ODAP in Lathyrus sativus subjected to a defined set of processing conditions. This study was carried out at pH 4.0 and 9.2. Isothermal condition experiments were carried out over a temperature range of 60–120 °C. For nonisothermal conditions, three different cooking methods viz., – open pan, pressure cooking and cooking in recently developed and patented fuel efficient ‘EcoCooker’ were used. The degradation of ODAP was adequately modeled by Arrhenius type of equation. A mathematical model based on the time temperature data of the nonisothermal heat process and isothermal kinetic rate parameters has been developed to predict the degradation of ODAP in any nonisothermal heating process of known time temperature profiles.