The selenium content of a variety of food items representing a normal hospital diet has been determined by cyclic instrumental neutron activation analysis (CINAA) through the 162-keV gamma-ray of the77mSe nuclide. The CINAA method is very simple and rapid. It involves irradiation of a sample for 20 s, decay for 20 s, and counting for 20 s. The precision of the method has been significantly improved by recycling the samples up to 4 times. The accuracy has been evaluated by analyzing a number of certified reference materials of varied selenium levels.