The Minerals Composition of Indonesian Rice

Background/Aims: Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the staple foods widely consumed by Indonesian people. They usually have rice as the biggest portion in their diet, therefore rice becomes the main source of nutrients of Indonesian people mainly for those who live in Java Islands. Rice contains various minerals, some are essential nutrients and some not. Therefore, mineral contents in rice are needed to be characterized. This research focused on the assessment of minerals content in Indonesian rice using nuclear analytical techniques and related methods. Methods: The rice was collected from several locations in Java Islands in order to see the variation caused by the topography from the Islands. Quality control of data analysis was assessed using SRM NIST Rice Flour 1568a and gave good results with accuracy (% bias) ≤ 5% and precision (%CV) less than 10%. Results: The essential mineral contents such as Fe, Zn, K, Mn, Ca and Cu were quantified and found in the range of 1.2–609, 24–288, 3260 –5700, 15–111, 441–860 and 13–32 mg/ kg respectively, while for other minerals Cr and Co in rice were also quantified. Conclusion: These results of mineral contents in rice were then could be used to estimate daily nutritional intake status of Javanese people.