[Evaluation of iron contents in foods of the basic diet]

The components of the basic food diet available at the food markets in Curitiba were evaluated according to their contents of iron. The method used for this analysis was atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The results obtained for samples of wheat flour were (mg/kg): 9.40 to 17.60; bread 7.04 to 12.80; coffee 45.76 to 49.21; potato 3.56 to 5.65; tomato 6.94 to 15.10; banana 7.59 to 15.20; rice 5.49 to 11.06; bean 59.84 to 78.75; meat 9.48 to 34.29; pasteurized milk 0.33 to 1.20; soy-bean oil 0.47 to 0.76; refined sugar 1.02 to 1.53 and margarine 1.50 to 2.06. There is no specific legislation in Brazil defining an upper limit of tolerance of iron in the food, except for soy-bean oil and margarine with a maximum of 1.50 mg/kg. The levels of iron analysed here were within the scale of variation reported by several authors from other countries.