Confectionery composition comprising bran-like material

A method of obtaining a confectionery composition comprising from 0.5% to 30% by weight based on the total weight of the confectionery composition of a bran-like material that is edible, processable, microbially released, and flavor acceptable, wherein (i) the bran-like material has a mean particle size by volume (Vol. MPS) of from 5 to 100 microns, (ii) the bran-like material has a volume particle size distribution (Vol. PSD) having D90.3 less than or equal to 350 microns and D50.3 less than or equal to 50 microns, and (iii) the bran-like material has a mean particle sphericity as measured by a Smean of greater than or equal to 0.75, (iv) being processable denotes the bran-like material has an oil holding capacity (OHC) of from 0.7 to 1.5;

• (v) being microbially released denotes that the bran-like material satisfies the criteria that Salmonella is not detected in a 25 g sample of the bran-like material, and (vi) being flavor acceptable denotes that the bran-like material has:
• a lipase activity (LA) of less than or equal to 2 U/g, a peroxidase activity (PA) of less than or equal to 2 U/g and wherein the confectionery composition is suitable for preparing a confectionery product and/or sugar confections, the method comprising the steps of:
• (a) providing a precursor bran-like material which has an unacceptable microbial load thereon that does not satisfy the criteria set out in feature (v);
• (b) treating the precursor bran-like material from step (a) to form treated material that is both microbially released and flavor acceptable;
• (c) milling the precursor bran-like material from step (a) and/or the treated material from step (b) to obtain microbially released, processable particles of bran-like material having all the properties (i) to (vi);
• and
• (d) incorporating the bran-like material from step (c) in the confectionery composition.