This work was designed to verify the effective levels of beta-carotene fort
ification of Brazilian commercial, popular spaghetti brands and assess the
nutrient retention after cooking. Total carotenoid contents in the raw drie
d pasta varied from 0.9 to 5.9 mu g/g. After separating what appeared to be
degradation products, however, contents fell to not detectable to 3.8 mu g
/g and two brands out of seven ranked below the minimum vitamin A value sta
ted on the label. Cooking did not decrease the total carotenoid content. It
is concluded that beta-carotene fortification of dried pasta can be valid,
but analytical separation of beta-carotene is necessary to assess the true
provitamin A. content. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.