Iron deficiency anaemia (ida) has become a serious problem in india. national family health survey (2015-16) revealed that almost half the population is affected (children- 58.4%, women - 53 % & men-22.7 %) with anaemia.fortification of staple food with essential micronutrients would be a key solution to alleviate the ida.being a staple food, rice provides a unique opportunity for the micronutrient fortification which leads to address the prevalence of ida among the affected population.fortified rice kernels (frk) have been developed by using rice brokens (byproduct of rice milling industry) and micronutrient premix (containing iron, folic acid and vitamin b12) in three different sizes (long, medium and small) using extrusion technology.the frk contains 280-425 mg of iron, 750-1250 µg of folic acid and 7.5 – 12.5 µg of vitamin b12 per 100 g according to the food safety and standards (fortification of foods) regulation, 2016. optimization of the extrusion process parameters such as die head temperature, barrel temperature, screw speed, feeder screw speed and feed moisture content were done to produce frks whichresemble the natural rice in physical, nutritional, sensory & cooking characteristics. drying process was standardized to avoid any fissure formation in the frks. the frk, thus produced, is mixed with the naturalrice in the ratio of 1:100 to obtain iron fortified rice (ifr). sensory study of rice dishes prepared using frk (made by using sona masuri cv. rice) had shown a good resemblance with those of the natural rice dishes both in raw and cooked form. the iron losses during washing (<1%), soaking (<2%) & cookingwere negligible (<8%). a pilot scale facility of production capacity 100 kg frk per day has been established at iit kharagpur, promoting the concept of “make in india”.
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