Wheat germ is the embryo of the wheat berry and contains high amounts of protein and fats that will produce a new plant. The germ is about 2.5 percent of the berry and contains about 10.6 grams of lipids per 100 grams of whole germ.
Oil Extraction
Wheat germ is defatted when oils are either expeller pressed or solvent extracted using acetone, hexane or methanol as solvents. The defatted meal remains after the oil is extracted, and the solvents are captured for reuse.
Shelf Life
has a high percent of "unstable" polyunsaturates that quickly become rancid after milling. Wheat germ that retains its full fatty acid content has a shelf life of only two months, even when refrigerated in a sealed container and shielded from light.
Protein
Defatted wheat germ is an excellent source of vegetable protein with good balance of essential amino acids, being high in glutamic acid, arginine, leucine and glycine, although lacking in cystine. Protein content is as high as 26.7 grams of protein per 100 grams of germ.
Livestock and Fish
Wheat germ meal is fed to livestock and fish. For example, the meal is about 16.5 percent of the Abernathy Dry Diet, a typical feed used on commercial fish farms. Other Abernathy ingredients are fish, powdered dairy whey, cottonseed meal, soy oil and vitamin supplements.
Annual Protein Yield
Assuming 350 million metric tons of wheat are produced annually, about seven million of that is wheat germ that could yield two million metric tons of protein, plus about 25 billion calories.
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