INDONESIA – Last week in Jakarta, Indonesia’s flour fortification efforts drew renewed attention as national and industry leaders gathered to launch the country’s Millers for Nutrition initiative.
Co-hosted by TechnoServe alongside the Indonesian Nutrition Foundation for Food Fortification (KFI), the event symbolized a decisive step: Pour buckets of fortified grains into a public display, each representing a contribution to healthier lives across the archipelago.
Julian Sander, Regional Business Manager at Stern Ingredients Asia-Pacific, participated in the launch and later presented the inaugural Millers for Nutrition Flour Fortification Award to Aptindo, Indonesia’s national wheat flour producers association.
Their collaboration with government agencies signals strong sectoral alignment on mandatory micronutrient enrichment.
Social and nutritional pressure points were central to discussions. Despite progress in targeting staples such as flour, additional investment is needed to scale fortification of rice and edible oil, especially given ongoing challenges around lab capacity and import regulations.
Indonesia’s recent legal framework under the National Development Plan (2024–2045, Law No. 59) and Presidential Decree No. 81 both emphasize biofortification and food diversification, assigning the national research agency BRIN a central role.
Around the same time, the Global Nutrition Report signalled progress but also persistent barriers.
While benchmarks like exclusive breastfeeding and low birth weight rates have improved, anemia affects 31.2 percent of women of reproductive age, 30.8 percent of children under five remain stunted, and 10.2 percent are wasted.
Rising adult obesity and an 8.7 percent diabetes prevalence underscore the growing shift toward diet-related illnesses.
Pan‑African fortification momentum
While Indonesia pushes for a recent coalition launch, attention in Africa remains focused on large-scale fortification.
The Food Fortification Initiative reports that 29 African nations have enacted mandatory wheat flour fortification.
Some like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia, Sierra Leone, and Eswatini—fortify more than half of industrially milled wheat without formal mandates.
In East Africa, a recent Milling Journal article noted Tanzania, Kenya, and Ethiopia have enrolled over 1,200 millers into a flour‑fortification network targeting 150 million consumers. Under this initiative, Sanku, a global micronutrient fortification company, has helped lift the fortification burden off small and medium flour millers.
Together, they’ve developed a business model that keeps fortified flour affordable for consumers and profitable for millers, even with expected increases in premix and packaging costs.
Sanku’s patented, IoT-enabled smart dosing machines, installed at partner mills, simplify the addition of nutrient premix to maize and wheat flour without raising consumer prices.
Meanwhile, under regional platforms such as ECOWAS and SADC, member states are increasingly harmonizing nutrient standards—iron and folic acid in flour, vitamin A in oil, iodine in salt—though enforcement and lab capacity remain ongoing challenges.
Globally, 93 countries mandate wheat flour fortification, and 82 low‑ and middle‑income nations require at least one grain to be fortified, yet zinc, a critical micronutrient, is mandated in only 33 of them.
Beyond wheat, coverage gaps persist. While nearly all households in countries with mandatory salt fortification access fortified salt, adequate fortification of wheat, maize flour, and vegetable oil reaches less than half of households.
Shared challenges, shared solutions
Both regions cite key hurdles: scaling analytical capacity, regulatory oversight, import control of premixes, and ensuring compliance across decentralized milling networks.
Indonesia’s government, industry stakeholders, and global partners like TechnoServe and KFI are aligning to strengthen these structures.
In Africa, regional bodies and donors have deployed harmonized guidelines, grant funding, and technical assistance through programs like Smarter Futures, supported by Mühlenchemie, GAIN, and other coalition members.
Analysts regard large‑scale food fortification, adding micronutrients to widely consumed staples, as among the most cost‑effective public health measures.
Meta‑analyses have found that zinc fortification alone can reduce deficiency prevalence by up to 55 percent.