Metabolite signatures and distribution patterns of processed pasta from fractionated whole wheat and Bambara groundnut using gas chromatography high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry

This study investigated the metabolite signatures and distribution in cooked whole wheat pasta enriched with Bambara groundnut using gas chromatography high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-HRTOF-MS). Before pasta production, whole wheat grains were fractionated using mechanical sieves of different aperture sizes (112, 300, 350, and 500 µm) and each fraction was enriched with Bambara flour. A total of 45 volatile metabolites were found in the cooked pasta and classified into different metabolite groups of esters (18%), miscellaneous compounds (13%), fatty acids (9%), amides and amines (7%), aromatic compounds (7%), and pharmaceuticals (7%). Other metabolites found included ketones (4%), furans (4%), methyl ester (4%), phthalates and plasticizers (4%), phenolic compounds (4%), terpenes and triterpene (4%), alcohols (4%), benzene-related compounds (2%), monoacylglycerols (2%), phthalic acids (2%), surfactants (2%), and vitamins (2%). Similar (8) metabolites were observed across the four pasta samples using the Venn diagram to show the relationship between the samples, while pasta from sieve of particle size 350 and 300 µm showed higher numbers of unique metabolites, 8 and 7, respectively compared to pasta from sieve of particle size 112 µm (4) and 500 µm (3). The information from this study can be used as biomarkers for pasta enriched with pulses.