The ingredient firm’s new World Initiative for Nutrition (WIN) will see it partnering with food manufacturers, other ingredient suppliers, non-governmental organizations and local food mills to get the right nutrients to populations that need them.
“We’re looking at populations at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid – people who live on less than $2 per day,” said Françoise Chomé, the director of the new initiative.
“That’s about two billion people globally. These people need to be fed and they need access to good quality food. It’s a market of $4bn, and manufacturers nowadays are not reaching that market,” she told NutraIngredients.com from the HiE trade show in Paris.
Coordinate efforts
Under the new initiative, which is designed to coordinate and focus the firm’s efforts in the fight against global malnutrition, Fortitech will develop nutritional premixes that respond to the specific nutritional needs of the populations they are targeting.
The aim is for these to be used by food manufacturers to develop staple fortified foods at an affordable price.
Fortitech will also be working with NGOs to find the right nutritional compositions for populations they wish to aid.
“The message we want to convey through WIN is that nutrition is not the problem, it is the solution. Food fortification not only impacts the health of the individual, but the health and economic wellbeing of the nations and communities to which they belong,” said Chomé.
Spreading fortification
Chomé, who was previously with the GAIN Foundation (Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition), will be coordinating the WIN initiative from Geneva together with support from Fortitech’s six facilities worldwide.
The company has already taken part in a number of fortification programs in Asia and Africa. It has also worked with NGOs around the world to formulate customized premixes to fortify foods commonly consumed in these regions.
Fortitech also supplies the World Food Programme with high quality micronutrient premixes for the fortified cereal-based food distributed through its programs.
“The World Initiative for Nutrition is expanding Fortitech's mission to partner with the many groups and organizations that are already dedicated to global nutrition issues,” said the company.