Rice fortification: DSM calls for public-private partnerships to combat malnutrition

18 Oct 2021 --- More team-ups between the public and private sectors are needed to fight malnutrition, argues DSM. The company is spotlighting how fortified rice can help support global nutrition as fortification is one of the most effective, safe and cost-efficient solutions for malnutrition, particularly in staple foods that make up the majority of global diets.

As part of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) 2021 Second Global Summit on Food Fortification virtual series, Yannick Foing, DSM’s global director of nutrition improvement, identified current opportunities for food fortification initiatives.

“Investing in nutrition is a good investment to make for businesses and governments, but we need more political will and more funding to support the existing interventions and bring them to scale,” he tells NutritionInsight.

The role of industry
Foing adds that society also needs more affordable nutritious products on the shelves, as well as to ensure that governments, the UN agencies, global donors and businesses are all contributing to investing in nutrition.

“This is to ensure that the food that consumers throughout the base of the pyramid are getting is high-quality, healthy, tasty, nutrient-dense, affordable and accessible in a sustainable way.”

Addressing industry’s role, he explains that companies can help develop these products. However, they need to collaborate with governments, communities, donors and NGOs to ensure that these products contain the needed nutrients and reach the consumers who need them the most, in a sustainable way and at a price at which they can afford them. 

Best fortification methods
Fortified rice can be adjusted based on nutritional needs and can be made to resemble the different rice varieties. There are various methods to add vitamins, minerals and other nutrients to rice after harvest. 

• Dusting: Electrostatic force is used to bind a micronutrient dry powder to the surface of the grain.
• Coating: A fortificant mix and ingredients such as wax or gum ‘fixes’ the micronutrient layer being sprayed onto rice. The produced fortified kernels are blended with regular rice, typically at a 0.5%-2% ratio.
• Hot or warm extrusion: Broken rice grains are ground into rice flour, then mixed with water and the required nutrients to produce a dough. The fortified dough is then passed through an extruder to produce the fortified kernels, which are then blended with regular rice, typically at 0.5%-2% ratio.

“Selecting an appropriate technology and fortificant forms to fortify rice post-harvest is crucial to successfully improve micronutrient health. In countries where rice is frequently washed, soaked or cooked in excess water, dusting will not be effective, and a coating technology needs to be rinse-resistant to be effective,” explains Foing. 

However, hot extrusion is supported by a robust evidence base and shows excellent consumer acceptability as it looks, cooks and tastes the same as non-fortified rice. An estimated two billion people worldwide are struggling to consume enough essential nutrients to support functions such as immunity.

Improving vaccination?
Foing states that the first of three opportunities for food fortification initiatives is using fortified rice as an immunity-supporting tool that may help the body respond to vaccinations. 

DSM explains that as governments worldwide work to roll out vaccinations for the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers have hypothesized a link between an individual’s nutritional status and the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine. Many people in the developing world have not yet received one of these vaccines.

Improving the nutritional intake of these populations through fortified rice may therefore have the potential to support immunity and vaccine response on a global scale.

Bolstering child and adult health
Foing also points to the potential of school feeding programs. It is crucial that children receive both enough calories, but also enough nutrients to grow and develop. Fortified rice helps to close the nutrient gap prevalent in children across the world, helping to support their cognitive and physical development as well as their immune health. 

Also important are workforce nutrition programs. Factors such as increased sick leave and lowered productivity have been directly linked to nutritional status, notes DSM. 

This can significantly influence businesses and communities’ financial and social development, meaning that implementing nutritional programs is often in the best interests of both employers and their workforce.

Foing argues that the health and business benefits of fortified rice can contribute to savings of up to 20% in lost productivity. Notably, DSM has seen the benefits firsthand through its own programs providing fortified rice to factory workers in India.Fortified rice can be distributed through the “social safety net,” where it is offered to vulnerable populations through organized programs.

Not a silver bullet
Recently released reports are showing a dramatic increase of people suffering from different forms of malnutrition by 2030, amplified by the ongoing pandemic. 

“However, nothing is irreversible, and there’s still time to act to prevent this from happening. Large-scale food fortification is no silver bullet but part of the solution,” says Foing.

Therefore, collaborations between industry and the public sector can:

• Put nutrition programs in place, where fortification is made mandatory for key local staple food, as well as multiple micronutrient supplements.
• Develop and implement quality assurance and quality control systems to ensure fortified products deliver the required nutrients at the expected levels to the consumers.
• Invest in educating health and care professions and consumers on the importance of nutrition.
• Find routes to market to improve the accessibility and availability of affordable nutritious products for all.

By Katherine Durrell