To make progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, including the first goal of halving the proportion of the word's poor and hungry by 2015, hunger and undernutrition need to be addressed urgently and effectively. This will also contribute towards the other MDGs on maternal and hicl health, HIV/AIDS, education, and gender equity. Malnutrition is linked to more than 50% of the 10-12 million deaths of children under the age of five each year. Most cases of malnutrition are due to a chronically poor quality of the diet, primarily a low content of vitamins and minerals, and recurrent infections. Home fortification The most practical and food-focused approach to providing extra vitamins and minerals to vulnerable groups during emergencies and in settings of nutritional transition is fortification, including home fortification using a multi-micronutrient powder. Home fortification adds extra vitamins and minerals, in doses that are safe to consume without professional supervision, to the meals of beneficiaries in their own homes, schools or other non-health-facility-based setting. The concept of home fortification was developed in the 1990s with the earliest forms of single-dose sachets containing micronutrients in a powdered form that could be easily sprinkled on any individual portion of food prepared in the household. Designed in such as way as to minimize changes to the taste, color, or texture of the food upon addition of the micronutrient powder, these micronutrient powders contained a mixture of essential vitamins and minerals (such as vitamin A, iron, zinc and iodine) in low but efficacious doses (due to the interaction between the micronutrients) that contribute to its consumers’ daily needs. Any non-fortified food can be fortified with such a supplement. Home fortication has been applied at increasingly larger scales since 2002. Multi-micronutrient powder is easily used in situations where local diets – or, in the case of emergencies, food aid baskets – currently do not provide enough micronutrients. This is particularly advantageous for young children and for pregnant or lactating women because they do not consume enough vitamins and minerals from foods fortified for the general population. Home fortification can also be useful for the general population when the provision of fortified foods is difficult due to logistical reasons. see also "The Sprinkles Global Health Initiative": http://sghi.org/ Stable food fortification The best way to prevent micronutrient malnutrition is to ensure the consumption of a nutritionally balanced and adequate diet. This is, unfortunately, far from being achievable everywhere as it requires universal access to adequate food and appropriate dietary habits. To address this, food fortification, which is simply the addition of specific vitamins and minerals to specific foods, has been applied in both developed and developing countries to address and prevent micronutrient deficiencies. In doing so, foods that are most widely consumed by the target population – usually staple foods and condiments, such as cereals, salt, butter and milk – are fortified with micronutrients that are most important in keeping the population well-nourished and hidden hunger at bay. Food fortification has the dual advantage of being able to deliver nutrients to large segments of the population without requiring radical changes to food consumption patterns. In specific intervention programmes, this strategy has successfully reduced or even eradicated a particular deficiency. Some countries have made it mandatory to fortify specific foodstuffs. The major challenges in fortification are to avoid undesirable changes in the appearance and taste of the food, and to target the population segment that needs the fortification most, while ensuring the fortification does not significantly increase the total cost of the product. Furthermore, a monitoring and control system that guarantees safe and adequate nutrient concentration and program compliance is essential. The books Guidelines on food fortification with micronutrients and Code of Practise for Food Premix Operations cover all aspects in this field. The Food Fortification Formulator manuals and working documents:  download pdf
 download pdf
 download pdf
Open High extraction wheat flour fortification formulator.xls
Open Maize Flour (no germ) fortification formulator.xls
Open Maize Masa Flour fortification formulator.xls
Open Oil fortification formulator.xls
Open Refined wheat flour fortification formulator.xls
Open Whole maize fortification formulator.xls
Open Sugar fortification formulator.xls
Open Salt fortification formulator.xls
Fortification basics:
Choosing a Vehicle
Principles of Assay Procedures
Stability
Maize Flour Meal
Milk
Noodles
Oils and Margarine
Sugar
Wheat Flour
Fortificación de Alimentos:
Azucar
Harina de Trigo
Leche
Maiz | 
