Of the 222 million metric tons of rice that is industrially milled each year, less than one percent is fortified with essential vitamins and minerals. Globally, 82 countries have mandatory legislation to fortify wheat and maize flour, but the opportunity to leverage rice to improve public health has yet to be tapped on a large scale.

1. F
ortification is the practice of deliberately
increasing the content of essential
micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals
in food, seasoning or condiments so as to
improve their nutritional quality without
altering product characteristics, such as
colour, odour, and texture.
Food fortification has been shown to
be both an effective and cost effective
method of improving intakes of micronutrient deficiencies in
population groups that buy one or more commonly consumed
foods. The Copenhagen Consensus has rated this among the top
three international development priorities. Recent evidence from
Europe has emphasised the need for sustained effort as withdrawal
of fortification programs leads to re-emergence of micronutrient
deficiencies.
Of the 222 million metric tons of rice that is
industrially milled each year, less than one percent
is fortified with essential vitamins and minerals.
Globally, 82 countries have mandatory legislation
to fortify wheat and maize flour, but the opportunity
to leverage rice to improve public health has yet to
be tapped on a large scale.
Only six countries currently have mandatory
rice fortification legislation, although voluntary
fortified rice is available in Brazil, Columbia and the
Dominican Republic. However, the accessibility of
fortified rice ranges across the countries.
In advance of the world’s first-ever global summit
on Food Fortification (#FutureFortified), co-hosted
by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition
(GAIN) and the Government of Tanzania, we
examine food fortification developments taking
place around the globe.
Rice fortification’s role in ending ‘hidden hunger’
Globally, an estimated two billion people
are affected by micronutrient malnutrition or
‘hidden hunger’. Its negative and often lifelong
consequences for health, growth, immune and
reproductive functions, productivity and mental
development are devastating.
Micronutrient deficiencies affect all age
groups, but young children and women of
reproductive age are particularly vulnerable.
Worldwide, the most prevalent micronutrient
deficiencies are iron, zinc, vitamin A, iodine and
folate. In some developing countries, several
different micronutrient deficiencies can occur
simultaneously. Micronutrient deficiencies are
accountable for approximately seven percent of
the global burden of disease.
In this article, GAIN’s Caroline Manus outlines
how fortification of one of the world’s most widely
consumed commodities, rice, should become a
higher international development priority.
#FutureFortified
Rice fortification:
an untapped
opportunity
by Caroline Manus, Associate, Large Scale
Food Fortification, Global Alliance for Improved
Nutrition
42 | Milling and Grain
F
focus

2. Why Rice?
Rice is the staple food for over half the world’s population,
with Asian countries consuming nearly 90 percent of the
world’s rice. Rice is a crucial staple as it reaches large
population groups in the Asia-Pacific region, parts of Latin
America and the Caribbean and increasingly in Africa.
Populations that subsist on rice are at high risk of vitamin
and mineral deficiencies. With rice reaching large population
groups across the world, by fortifying rice there is huge
potential to improve the nutritional status of vulnerable groups
and thus alleviate the micronutrient deficiency burden.
Global challenges and fortification methodologies
In its un-milled form, rice is a source of micronutrients, B
vitamins and iron. However, the milling process depletes the
grains of micronutrients, resulting in a nutrient- poor staple
food. Rice is also a highly culturally sensitive commodity.
Growing, selecting and cooking rice grains are subject to
regional, national and even local preferences. These will in turn
affect cooking practices and thus micronutrient retention.
Indeed, many countries wash rice before and after cooking,
washing away micronutrients. Besides washing the rice
before cooking, other common techniques used in developing
countries to prepare rice include soaking the rice for some time
before cooking, frying the rice in oil for several minutes before
adding water to boil the rice or before boiling the rice in excess
water, and decanting the excess water toward the end of the
cooking process.
Different processing methods are currently being used in
the food industry to manufacture rice products with desirable
This girl at a market in Indonesia illustrates
the population who would benefit from rice
fortification. Photo by IFPRI on Flickr.
July 2015 | 43
F

3. sensory quality on the basis of cultural and cooking preferences
and nutritional considerations. The processes result in changes in
the nutrient contents, stabilities, and retentions depending on the
rice variety and the original nutritional quality.
Additionally, there are challenges faced in the key
characteristics of rice colour, smell, taste and appearance. These
may all be affected during the fortification, yet fortification is
feasible. The food industry is currently using three different
methodologies, mainly dusting, coating and extrusion.
Dusting is a process whereby rice is covered with a micronutrient
powder that adheres to the grains. The main challenge with dusting
is reduced micronutrient retention due to the washing and cooking
methods typically adopted in most countries.
Alternatively, rice can be fortified by making dough, using flour
produced from a mixture of fortified and non-fortified rice kernels
(with a ratio of 1:200 of fortified to non-fortified rice). The dough
is then passed through an extruder. Cold, warm and hot extrusion
methods may be used.
Coating is one of the oldest ways to prevent micronutrient
losses through washing. A protective coat consisting of several
layers of micronutrients can be sprayed onto the grains. High
concentrations of micronutrients are added onto to a fraction of
the rice. Subsequently these rice kernels are coated with water-
resistant edible coatings, and then mixed with normal rice. Trials
are currently underway to explore a new method of fortifying rice
by adding the fortificants directly into the soaking water at the
stage when the rice is dehusked.
The broader implications of rice fortification will be further
discussed during the #FutureFortified summit.
References available upon request
CASE STUDY
Rice fortification shows great promise in Brazil
In 2010, PATH partnered with the Global Alliance for
Improved Nutrition (GAIN), with funding from the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, to develop a replicable model for
scale-up of rice fortification through commercial channels.
Brazil was chosen for project implementation because it
provided a well-suited testing ground for developing a market-
based rice fortification model, combining moderate to high
per capita rice consumption, a relatively consolidated and
sophisticated rice industry, and strong retail channels.
Despite an upward economic trajectory and declining poverty
rates, micronutrient deficiencies remain a serious problem in
Brazil, especially among women and children. Brazil is the most
significant rice producer outside of Asia, with a consolidated
industry. PATH advanced the Ultra Rice® technology
employing a unique mechanism for incorporating micronutrients
within an extruded rice grain made from rice flour, minimising
micronutrient losses.
Additionally, the grains resemble milled rice in size, shape
and density. When cooked, the fortified rice has the same
taste, colour and texture as non-fortified rice. Grains, produced
using this technology have proven to be safe acceptable and
efficacious.
Fortified rice products were introduced to consumers in early
2013. In October 2014 over two million consumers had tried
the new fortified rice products, with almost a third becoming
repeat customers and most from the target social segments,
lower- income families. Despite the slightly higher price of the
fortified rice, 89 percent of current consumers plan to continue
buying the product, with almost half having recommended the
product to others.
Rice fortification is showing great promise, particularly as this
sector is largely untapped. Hundreds of thousands of households
are already enjoying the benefits of fortified rice and demand is
continuously growing. Although in Brazil this project successfully
reached two million consumers, it could reach an even higher
scale with involvement and encouragement by the government.
GLOBAL SUMMIT
Why the Future should be #FutureFortified
The world’s first global summit on food fortification -
#FutureFortified, which runs between 9 -11 September 2015,
will play a key role in the global effort to reinvigorate interest,
awareness and investment in food fortification as a means to
help eliminate the critical challenge of malnutrition.
Co-hosted by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition
(GAIN) and the Government of Tanzania, #FutureFortified will
bring together more than 300 international experts including
governments from across the world, health professionals,
international development organisations, policymakers,
donors, industry, academia and civil society, to forge a vision
and strategy for food fortification to address the catastrophic
challenges of micronutrient deficiency and malnutrition.
Taking place during the year that the world will agree the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s), the Global Summit
will present key successes of food fortification to date in
addressing micronutrient deficiencies and the challenges
that remain in making sure everyone in the world can access
nutritious diets.
“Malnutrition affects billions of people. Yet with the launch of
the Sustainable Development Goals this year and their emphasis
on ending malnutrition, we have a unique opportunity to secure
support for proven and scalable interventions that can help to
reduce malnutrition. Food fortification is one such intervention.
We know it works, is safe and is cost-effective. #FutureFortified,
the global summit on food fortification, is our opportunity to
secure crucial support to expand and strengthen food fortification
to ultimately transform billions of people’s lives for the better”
says GAIN’s Executive Director, Marc Van Ameringen.
www.gainhealth.org/events/future-fortified/
44 | Milling and Grain
F

5. W
ith any new initiative,
half of the effort is
communicating and
collaborating with key
partners to ensure efforts
are cohesive, efficient,
comprehensive, and well
informed. Since 2004,
the Food Fortification
Initiative (FFI) has existed as a public-private-civic sector
partnership to help country leaders plan, implement, and monitor
fortification programs for wheat flour, maize flour, and rice.
Part of that effort includes tracking data on countries that fortify,
the fortification legislation, and developing technical resources
to help partners in fortification efforts. Given that global efforts
in rice fortification are still growing and that there are limited
opportunities for communication across partners, FFI has
identified the need to fill that gap with an online tool for partners
to share resources. The platform is being designed with four
components:
1. A database on fortified rice studies so that you can quickly
refer to the literature and evidence on fortified rice. The
literature on fortified rice covers nutrient retention in
washing and cooking, fortified kernel nutrient composition,
bioavailability trials, and organoleptic triangle tests and
consumer acceptability. By collecting all of the published
research on fortified rice in one place, making an informed
decision about fortified rice, and identifying the information
gaps to strategise future research becomes that much easier.
2. A database on current, in-progress fortified rice research
so that you can see what others are doing, reduce duplicate
efforts, and disseminate information more easily. No one
wants to reinvent the wheel, and for good reason, it’s a
waste of time. In September 2014, the global development
community and leaders from rice-consuming countries
attended a Scaling Up Rice Fortification workshop in
Bangkok, Thailand. Sharing and understanding the successes
experienced by others in order to expedite growth and uptake
is necessary to scale up rice fortification.
Rice is consumed by over two billion people. FFI estimates
that less than one percent of that rice is fortified. The
opportunities are vast, but working together makes these
opportunities more easily attainable. Without a concerted
information-sharing effort, it is too easy to go at it alone,
at best relying on word-of-mouth information, and at worst
repeating the same mistakes that others have already learned
from.
3. A list of current fortified kernel producers to facilitate
procurement. Rice fortification at this moment is experiencing
a ‘chicken and the egg’ moment - there are a small number
of producers because the demand is currently limited. The
countries and importers interested in fortified rice often have
difficulty finding fortified rice producers to meet their needs.
Keeping a contact list of producers will help suppliers find
new customers, and will help customers find the best-fortified
kernels for their needs.
4. Information on rice fortification activities, including sub-
national programs and pilots such as school feeding programs,
or rice fortification pilots in social safety nets (ex: welfare
food distribution). FFI currently keeps track of the number of
countries with mandatory legislation for the fortification of
wheat flour, maize flour, and rice.
However, the most action in rice fortification presently lies in
sub-national programs and pilots, where governments and the
development collaborate to understand how rice fortification
fits into their country context. In Indonesia fortified rice
is distributed by the government; in India, school-lunch
programs to distribute fortified rice to schoolchildren are being
piloted. Information about efforts that already exist is key to
informing and guiding rice fortification strategies.
Future progress is key
Fortification of staple cereal grains with essential vitamins
and minerals is a nutrition intervention that is estimated to
prevent 38,417 serious birth defects every year and countless
cases of micronutrient deficiencies. Cereal grain fortification
is supported by international development agencies such as
WHO, UNICEF, and WFP. With a consolidated effort, rice
fortification can bring improved nutrition to the billions on
Earth already consuming rice, and attain the same successes
that wheat and maize flour fortificatio have already achieved
around the world.
Do you have information you would like to share? Or would
you like to see how the resource-sharing platform could assist
your efforts in rice fortification? The platform is open-access, but
an invitation to join must be requested to protect the privacy of
partners who have submitted contact details or other information.
For questions or comments about the rice fortification resource-
sharing platform, please contact Becky Tsang, FFI Technical
Officer for Asia, at becky.tsang@ffinetwork.org
New online tool for sharing rice fortification resources
by Becky Tsang, Technical Officer, Food Fortification Initiative, Asia
Rice for sale at this shop in Viet Nam illustrates
the importance of making fortified rice look
like many varieties of unfortified rice. Photo
by BBC World Service on Flickr.
46 | Milling and Grain
F

6. Introducing NIR calibrations
on demand.
Analyse your proteins and
cereals using the new online
service - AusScan Online.
AusScanO n l i n e
For more information visit www.aunir.co.uk
July 2015 | 47
F