April 2, 2024 - The Director of Nutrition, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Sugra Mahmood, Dr Faniran Sanjo, Food System National Conveyor/Director Social Development of the Ministry of Budget & Economic Planning and NAFDAC's Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (FSAN) Director, Eva Edwards joined milling industry leaders, and other stakeholders at the 9th Agrofood Nigeria Exhibition and Summit to launch Millers for Nutrition, which aims to ensure that more Nigerians can access the nutritious food they need to live healthier and more productive lives.
Millers for Nutrition, a new industry-led coalition, has been established to make adequate fortification of staple foods easier and more rewarding for millers, the businesses responsible for processing dietary staples like flour, cooking oil and rice. By adding essential vitamins and minerals to the widely consumed foods they produce, millers can play an important role in reducing malnutrition and improving public health. Millers for Nutrition will encourage, enable and celebrate this vital work.
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Millers who join Millers for Nutrition and commit to improving the nutritional quality of their food will receive free technical support to make it easier to fortify their products. This includes access to tailored technical training and business advice, product testing support and online tools and resources, which will also help millers to reduce their compliance risk and enhance production efficiency.
At the launch, Millers for Nutrition and participants also celebrated the winners of the 2024 MFI Awards, which recognise the miller and brands that are leading the way to fortifying their products with essential vitamins and minerals.
This year's MFI award winners include Crown Flour Mills Ltd (OLAM), Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC, Raffles Oil LFTZ Enterprises, and Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc. Other companies recognised at the awards ceremony include DUFIL Prima Foods and WACOT-Big Bull, recognised as the Rice Fortification pioneer brand.
Members of Millers for Nutrition will gain recognition for their efforts through platforms like the MFI Awards and other promotional activities including events and media. As fortification quality improves, members will benefit as they gain greater recognition for product quality and industry leadership.
Millers for Nutrition is being implemented in eight countries across Africa and Asia: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan and Tanzania, and across three staple food vehicles: rice, edible oil and flour (wheat and maize).Partners of the coalition have committed to reach one billion people with adequately fortified rice, edible oil and flour by 2026.
"NAFDAC welcomes the launch of the Millers of Nutrition in Nigeria and thanks TechnoServe, their technical partners and the Gates foundation for this laudable initiative which aims to enhance the capacity of millers, promote sustained behavioural change among food processors and distinguished proven leaders in the food fortification space who display resilience in fortifying staple foods. We key into the Miller for Nutrition target of positively impacting the nutrition of one billion people by 2026 across the eight countries they operate including Nigeria" said Eva Edwards, Director of food safety and applied nutrition on behalf of professor Mojisola Adeyeye, Director General of NAFDAC.
"Millers for Nutrition members in Nigeria will stand apart because they represent a commitment to fortification excellence and product quality that improves the lives of the people they serve. By sharing practical tools and best in class expertise and training from industry leaders, Millers for Nutrition will enable millers to step up and adopt food fortification into a business advantage," said Rizwan Yusufali, Program Director for Millers for Nutrition at TechnoServe.
"On behalf of millers, we assure consumers that we will continue to enrich all our brands with the necessary vitamins and minerals. Consumers will not only see fortified products, they will see detailed information on fortification that is in the product as they continue to buy and consume these products" commented Boye Olusanya, group managing director of Flour Mills of Nigeria. "I would like to encourage millers across the country who are not part of the Millers for Nutrition to join the coalition, so that together we can make a huge difference in the lives of consumers and populace in Nigeria."
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This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine Milling and Grain
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.
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