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Estimation of the Levels of Fe in Wheat and Maize Flour Milled using Commercial Milling Machine and A Home Blender
KALAGBOR, IA; FYNEFACE, D; KORFII, U; OGAJI, T & KPOONANYIE, F
Abstract
Milling devices are among the most commonly used in our indigenous markets
and homes and variety of elements such as Cu, Ni, Zn, Pb, Ti, Co, Cr, Al, Si, and Fe are used in
their manufacture and fabrication. Often times they are present as alloys. With prolonged
processing, these metals are gradually introduced as contaminants in the food being processed.
Wheat and maize were selected for this study due to their wide usage as sources of protein and
carbohydrate in Nigeria and Africa in general. The samples were cleaned by picking out sand,
stones and other impurities and ground using the commercial milling machine and a home
blender and were digested with HNO3 and HClO4 in the ratio of 4:1 and analyzed using AAS.
Average Fe concentration values for both wheat and maize samples milled with commercial
milling machine is 13.53 mg/kg and 26.79 mg/kg respectively while samples milled with the
home blender gave concentration values of 4.00 mg/kg and 2.64 mg/kg for wheat and maize
respectively. The high concentration of Fe in ground maize and wheat milled using the
commercial milling machine could be attributed to the abrasive friction of the grinding disc as
the grains come in contact with it during grinding resulting in its chipping off into the milled
sample. It is therefore recommended that the commercial milling machine be redesigned with
the incorporation of a permanent magnet to minimize or totally eliminate the introduction of Fe
fillings into the ground grains and other foodstuffs.
Keywords
Commercial milling machine; wheat; maize; contaminants; home blender; grinding
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