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Trace elements in five kinds of flour which were made in Japan. America and Canada, have been measured by means of in-air PIXE. Twelve kinds of trace elements were detected, such as Cl, K, Ca, Sc, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn and Br. The concentration of these elements varied depending on the place where they were made. In order to check the target preparation procedure, two types of sample preparation have been used, such as wet ashing by nitric acid in a microwave oven and making a paste by an internal standard solution. Comparisons of the results of both samples ensures that bromine was not lost during micro-wave oven heating. Analytic fitting of PIXE spectra by a personal computer and a commercial apllication software was successfully used.

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Aerial yam (Dioscorea bulbifera) is one of the varieties of yam cultivated in Nigeria but less consumed. To diversify the processing methods and encourage its other uses, the yam was subjected to fermentation process for 5 days. The microbial, pH and titratable acidity (%TA) of the fermenting mash as well as the proximate composition of the fermented and unfermented flour were assessed. The total viable counts increased from 1.64 × 10⁸ cfu/ml by day 3 and decreased to 7.62 × 10² cfu/ml at the end of fermentation. While the pH decreased, the TA increased at the end of fermentation. The prevalent microbial genera involved in the fermentation were Lactobacillus, Bacillus and Penicilium. The proximate composition of the fermented flour differed significantly (p<0.05) from the unfermented with increased protein content from 6.78g/100g (control) to 9.26g/100g. Fermentation improved the nutritional and microbial quality of aerial yam flour.