Monitoring the wheat and corn flours enriched with iron

Abstract

Anemia is the most common nutritional disorders in the world.Several factors may cause this disease, including the iron deficiency. In Brazil, the procedure of wheat and corn flours enrichment with iron was instituted in 2002. The present investigation evaluated the iron contents in wheat and corn flours commercialized in the state of São Paulo, following the legislation in force. The mean values of iron were 5.4 mg.100 g-1 and 4.7 mg.100 g-1, for wheat and corn flours, respectively, and they were compliant with the national literature findings. The iron contents varieties from 1.0 to 11.7 mg.100 g-1 in wheat flour and from 0.9 to 19.9 mg.100 g-1 in corn flour showed that some manufacturers do not perform adequate control of iron enrichment approach, possibly due to the occurrence of some problems in the technical procedure during the manufacturing process. This study also indicates the importance of maintaining the food monitoring programs as a tool, which may aid the producers to be in conformity with the limits established in the legislation, and also to support the control and the surveillance of products consumed by the population.