People are focusing more on gluten free food products with minimal production costs. Maize is one of the major cereal crops and provides up to 30 per cent of food calories to 4.5 billion people in the world. Maize was the first plant cultivated by farmers 7000–10,000 years ago in Mexico and later spread to various parts of the world. Maize is generally classified according to its colour, which ranges from white to yellow to red to black. Another major categorization is based on the size and composition of the endosperm containing an appreciable amount of carbohydrates (66.2%), lipids (3.6%), proteins (11.1%) and vitamins and minerals (3.6%) along with fibres (2.7%). Unfortunately, maize is deficient in two major amino acids, namely tryptophan and lysine and also minerals like iron and zinc and vitamin B12. Due to a good nutritional profile, a high proportion of maize grains is processed industrially for transforming into value-added products by three basic methods:- wet milling, dry milling and nixtamalization that enhance shelf stability of the product by preventing the hydrolysis of lipids. This review hopes to facilitate the feasibility of maize incorporation in various food products prepared from other cereal crops and its impact on quality and shelf life with a prime objective to spread awareness regarding nutritional qualities as an alternative to wheat or rice.

人们更多地关注生产成本最低的无麸质食品。玉米是主要的谷类作物之一，为全世界 45 亿人提供高达 30% 的食物热量。玉米是 7000 至 10,000 年前农民在墨西哥种植的第一种植物，后来传播到世界各地。玉米一般按其颜色分类，从白色到黄色到红色到黑色。另一个主要分类是基于胚乳的大小和组成，其中含有大量碳水化合物（66.2%）、脂质（3.6%）、蛋白质（11.1%）、维生素和矿物质（3.6%）以及纤维（2.7%） . 不幸的是，玉米缺乏两种主要氨基酸，即色氨酸和赖氨酸，以及铁、锌和维生素 B12 等矿物质。由于营养丰富，高比例的玉米粒通过三种基本方法进行工业加工以转化为增值产品：湿磨、干磨和碱法加工，通过防止脂质水解来提高产品的货架稳定性。本综述希望促进将玉米掺入由其他谷类作物制成的各种食品中的可行性及其对质量和保质期的影响，主要目的是传播人们对营养品质作为小麦或大米替代品的认识。