1. Introduction
Rice (Oryza sativa) is a widely consumed staple in Jamaica (Samuda et al., 1998a,b), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) lists Jamaica among the countries that are significant per capita consumers of rice (Kennedy et al., 2002). Both plain rice and rice and peas were ranked among the top 10 most consumed foods in the country with rice being the only starch staple in the top 10. Although cooked rice and peas (composite sample from several Jamaican households) has been analyzed for some nutrients by the Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute (Samuda et al., 1998b),
plain rice was not analyzed and was found to be more popularly consumed in the Kingston Metropolitan Area where 28% of
Jamaica’s population lives; there has been no comprehensive
elemental analysis of this predominant staple of the Jamaican
population.