IRON CHEMICAL SPECIATION IN BRAZILIAN FORTIFIED INFANT FOODS

This work aimed to investigate the chemical speciation of iron in infant Brazilian fortified foods: lactea flour, infant cereal, powdered chocolate and powdered milk. For this purpose, two brands of each type of sample were collected from supermarkets in the Cuiabá city. The samples were subjected to dry decomposition, and the total Fe concentration was determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The Fe3+ concentration was determined by spectrophotometry using the thiocyanate method, while that of Fe2+ was obtained by difference. The results showed higher concentrations of Fe3+ in relation to Fe2+ for the two brands lactea flour (2.1 ± 0.3 mg/100g Fe3+ and 0.8 ± 0.0 mg/100g Fe2+; 7.4 ± 1.1 mg/100g Fe3+and 4.6 ± 0.1 mg/100g Fe2+), two brands powdered milk (3.4 ± 0.4 mg/100g Fe3+and 2.5 ± 0.1 mg/100g Fe2+; 4.4 ± 0.4 mg/100g Fe3+and 4.0 ± 0.1 mg/100g Fe2+) and one brand powdered chocolate (1.5 ± 0.3 mg/100g Fe3+and 0.9 ± 0.1 mg/100g for Fe2+). This may denote the use of weak fortifying agents, insoluble substances and high concentrations of absorption-inhibiting substances. The results obtained indicate the use of fortifying agents of low bioaccessibility due to the higher concentrations of Fe3+ present in the samples.