Physicochemical properties, micronutrient uptake and bioavailability of iron-fortified intact grain puffed rice

Cereal fortification is a popular and effective strategy to replenish micronutrient reserves. Here, puffed rice was chosen as a vehicle for iron fortification using different salts, viz. ferrous fumarate, sodium ferric ethylenediaminetetraacetate, ferric pyrophosphate, and ferrous sulphate. The preconditioning process for puffed rice production was modified by soaking the rice in a fortificant premix solution, incorporating common salt, and roasting it at 250 °C for 10 s to produce fortified puffed rice. The physicochemical, micronutrient content and bioavailability of the puffed rice before and after fortification were studied. The fortified puffed rice exhibited similar physicochemical properties to regular puffed rice. The fortified product contained significantly high iron content, and soluble salt offered better processing retention than insoluble salt. All the fortified puffed rice enhanced the body haemoglobin and ferritin reserve in the anaemic rats, where soluble salt ferrous sulphate fortified samples resulted best.