Abstract:

Boron background values in foods are important to judge the proper amount of borax or boric acid. A
total of 492 flour samples milled from wheat collected from different growing areas in China during the crop year
2012 were determined by ICP-AES for boron content. The average background value of boron in these wheat flour
samples was 0.648 mg/kg and the variation range was 0.240–1.361 mg/kg, following normal distribution. The 95%
confidence interval for the wheat flour samples was 0.261–1.035 mg/kg, whereas the maximum confidence value
was 1.035 mg/kg. Accordingly the data obtained in this study can be seen as background values of boron element in
wheat flour samples.

Key words: boron, wheat flour, background value, borax, boric acid