FOOD FORTIFICATION 

·         WHO – “The process whereby nutrients are added to foods (in relatively small quantities) to maintain or improve the quality of the diet of a group, a community or a population”.

·         Fortification means deliberately increasing the content of the essential micro nutrients in the food so as to improve the nutritional quality of the food .

   ·         “Fortified foods” Foods to which extra nutrients have been added.

·     “Fortificant” means a substance added to food to provide micronutrients but does not include nutraceuticals or foods for Special Dietary Uses.

·    “Fortified food” means food that has undergone the process of fortification as per the provisions of these Regulations.

·         “Staple foods” means articles of food intended for mass consumption on a daily basis and include rice, wheat, wheat flour, atta, maida, oil, salt, milk, and such other articles of food as may be designated staple foods under these regulations.

 

History of Food Fortification

·         Iodised Salt was used in the United States before World War II.

·         Niacin has been added to bread in the USA since 1938.

·         Vitamin D was added to margarine in Denmark in early 50’s.

·         Vitamin A & D were added to Vanaspati (hydrogenated Vegetable Oil) in India since 1954 as per mandate.

·           Folic acid was added to bread for preventing neural tube defects in infants in 60’s.

·         Over the last 3 decades fortification of foods has become a public health measure for preventing deficiencies of Vitamin -A, Iron, Folic acid and Iodine.

Types of Food Fortification

·         Biofortification.

·         Microbial Biofortification and synthetic biology.

·         Commercial and industrial fortification.

·         Home fortification.

Objectives

·         To maintain the nutritional quality of foods.

·         Keeping nutrients levels adequate to correct or prevent specific nutritional deficiencies in the population or in groups at risk of certain deficiencies.

·         To increase the added nutritional value of a product (commercial view).

·         To provide certain technological functions in food processing. 

Purpose of food fortification 

·         Improve nutritional quality of food.

·         Reduce nutritional disorders.

·         Fortification for body building.

·         Fortification for medical treatment.

Food fortification - Technology

·         Food based strategies are most effective and sustainable approach to combat macro and micro nutrients deficiencies. 

1.        Selection of appropriate fortificant (Target groups, High consumers, Affordable and available all year long Organoleptic properties).

2.        Technically and economically feasible. 

Key Micronutrients

1.      Iodine.

2.      Iron.

3.      Vitamin A.

4.      Folic acid.

5.      Zinc.

6.      Vitamin D.

7.      Calcium.

8.      Other micronutrients: Vitamin B2, B6, B12.

Micronutrient Deficiencies In India

Micronutrient deficiencies such as:

·         Iron deficiency anaemia (IDA).

·         Vitamin A deficiency (VAD).

·         Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) continue to be significant public health problems in India.

·         Well established deficiency cases of : Iron, Iodine & Vit-A.

·         Emerging evidences: Reported on low plasma levels of zinc, folic acid & vitamin D.

·         Sporadic deficiencies related to Vit B12, B1, B2.

·         Evidence of increasing fracture risk of Indian population attributed to calcium & Vitamin D deficiency has also been reported in the recent past.

 

General principles for fortification

1)                Essential nutrients may be appropriately added to foods for the purpose of

a.        Preventing and reducing the risk of demonstrated deficiency.

b.        One or more essential nutrients.

c.        Health and nutritional quality of foods.

2)                If mandatory, it shall be based on severity and extent of public health need as demonstrated by accepted scientific evidence.

3)                Fortification in staple food based on the directions of Government of India.

4)                Double fortified salt: Iodine deficiency disorders and iron deficiency anaemia are widely prevalent and often coexist in the country.

5)                Fortification of food with iodine and iron is recommended as one of the strategies to prevent and control these two deficiency disorders.

6)                NIN has developed a suitable technology for dual fortification of common salt with iodine and iron.

7)                The stability of iodine is satisfactory in double fortified salt with very little loss of iodine in six months.

Iodised salt :

·         The technology involved in fortification of salt with iodine involves either dry mixing or spray mixing of salt with iodine source mainly with potassium iodate.

Fortification Technology

·         Dry mixing for foods like cereal flours and their products, powder milk, beverage powder etc.

·         Dissolution in water for liquid milk, drinks, fruit, juices, bread, pastas, cookies.

·         Spraying for corn flakes and other processed foods requiring cooking or extrusion steps that would destroy vitamin activity.

·         Dissolution in oil for oily products such as margarine.

·         Addition For sugar fortification vitamin A in powder form is absorbed on to the surface of the sugar crystals when used with a vegetable oil. 

·         Coating For rice. The vitamins sprayed over the grains must be coated to avoid losses when the grains are washed before cooking.

·         Pelleting for rice. The vitamins are incorporated into pellets reconstituted from broken kernels.

 

Fortification of food under the government supported programmes

a)        Fortification of ICDS supplementary cooked food.

b)       Fortification of food for the Mid Day Meal.

c)        Fortification of factory produced Ready-to-Eat (RTE) foods.

d)       Fortification of wheat flour supplied through Targeted Public Distribution System(TPDS)

Under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA), The Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) voluntary fortification guidelines are only given for:

 

ü  Whole Wheat flour (Atta).

ü  Refined wheat flour (Maida).

 

Food Safety and Standards (Fortification of Foods) Regulations, 2018

·         FSSAI has formulated regulations for fortification of foods referred to as Food Safety and Standards (Fortification of Foods) Regulations, 2018.

·         These regulations provide for fortification of staples such as Wheat flour, Rice, Edible Oil and Vanaspati, Milk and Salt with micronutrients like Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Iron, Folic Acid, Vitamin B12, Zinc, Thiamine, Riboflavin, Niacin, Pyridoxine and their salts.

·         These regulations define the basis on which food manufacturers shall fortify their products and comply with prescribed standards.

 

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Technical Understanding of Fortification

 

 

Commodity	Nutrient	Technology	Test
Wheat flour	Iron, Folic acid and B12.	·         Premise	i.        Qualitative Spot Test Iron spot test ii.      Quantitative test
Vegetable edible oil	Vit A, D, E   (fat soluble)	·         Preblend ·         Preblend with refined oil	i.         Ring test (Presence of vit A in oil) ii.        Sample analysing
Milk	Vit A, Vit D	·         Blending	i.         Ring test ii.        Sample analysing
Rice	Iron, Folic acid, Vit B12   (FRK 1:50 to 1:200)	·         Dusting ·         Coating ·         Extrusion	i.         Iron spot test ii.        Sample analysing
Salt	Irone and Iodine	Either ·         Ferrous sulphate formulation. ·         Ferrous fumarate formulation. (Premix – Blending)	i.         Iodine and iron spot test ii.        Sample analysing

 

Food Fortification Resource Centre

 

·         The Food Fortification Resource Centre (FFRC) is established under India’s government department that regulates food, known as The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in collaboration with TATA Trusts.

·         The FFRC works dedicatedly to provide essential support to stakeholders like relevant government ministries, food businesses, development partners etc.,

·         Promoting and supporting food fortification efforts across India. The team is comprised of approximately 10 to 12 members.

·         In 2016, FSSAI issued operational standards for fortification of food across India.

·         As of now, the standards have been issued for milk, edible oil, wheat flour, rice, and double fortified salt.

·         The standards for processed foods are underway.

·         According to FFRC, fortification of milk and oil are the low hanging fruit in fortification (with vitamins A and D).

·         This is largely because there is no technological challenge in the fortification process and the production industries are less fragmented than in, say, wheat flour production.

 

Benefits of fortification

 

 

Disadvantages

 

·         Shelf life of fortified milled cereals is reduced.

·         Regular quality control is essential.

·         Prolonged cooking of fortified food leads to 90% loss of vitamin C.

·         Fortified commodity is more expensive.

 

Points to remember

 

·         The process of improving the nutrient levels of nutrients which might be lost during processing in foods by special methods is called Enrichment.

·         Vitamins and minerals cannot be added to any unprocessed foods, such as fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry or fish.

·         As of November 3, 2020, around 15 State Governments have identified districts to implement the Fortification of Rice Scheme.

·         The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), CFTRI (Central Food Technological Research Institute) has made protein rich biscuits for COVID-19 patients. The biscuits have been sent to the COVID-19 patients in AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Science).

·         The National Summit on Fortification of Food was recently inaugurated in New Delhi