Cyanogen content of cassava roots and flour in Indonesia

Muhamad Djazuli, J. Howard Bradbury*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    36 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    A survey has been made of the total cyanogen content of cassava roots and products from the cassava growing provinces of Lampung and East, Central and West Java, in Indonesia. Twenty five samples of cassava products were analysed for cyanogens by the acid hydrolysis method and also by the simple picrate kit method. The mean percentage difference between the results was 17%. Thirty samples of cassava starch and other specialised products had a mean cyanogen content of only 5 ppm, whereas 29 samples of cassava flour, chip and gaplek gave a much higher mean cyanogen content of 54 ppm (SD 51). The WHO safe value for cassava flour is 10 ppm and the Indonesian level is 40 ppm. There are four outliers of cyanogen content 140-200 ppm, which would be dangerous to human health. The cyanogen content of starch/chips/gaplek needs to be reduced by using cultivars of lower cyanogen content and by using improved processing methods. Twenty seven samples of cassava roots gave a mean cyanogen content of 19 ppm (SD 14). Copyright (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)523-525
    Number of pages3
    JournalFood Chemistry
    Volume65
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jun 1999

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