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Tariq Sarwar Awan

Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA)

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WHEAT FLOUR FORTIFICATION STATUS IN PAKISTAN &

ENTERPRENEURIAL APPROACHES

Major AlliesPakistan Flour Mills Association

Global Alliance for Improved NutritionNIFSAT UAF

International Scenario-Fortification

• 600 million MT of Wheat and Maize is milled annually by Commercial Roller Mills and consumed as Noodles, Breads, Pasta and Other Flour Products.

• It is estimated that proportion of industrial scale wheat flour being fortified is

• America 97%• Africa 31%• East Meditranian 44%• South East Asia 21%• Europe 6%• West Pacific Regions 4%

Pneumonia 15%

Injuries, 3%

Other, 19%

Neonatal 42%

HIV/AIDS 1%

Diarrhoea 19%

Measles 1%

Malaria1%

45% attributable to undernutrition

Source: Lancet Series on Maternal and Child Undernutrition, 2013

Globally 45% of under-five deaths are attributable to under nutrition

Wheat Flour Average Consumption Ranges

• < 75 g/day

• 75-150 g/day

• 150-300 g/day

• > 300 g/day

Findings of NNS 2011According to National Nutritional Survey 2011, Pakistan

Very little progress has been made in terms of micronutrient deficiencies among women and children, with exception in Iodized salt usage & huge reductions in moderate & severe iodine deficiency rates

Maternal Anaemia:-Pregnant = 52% & -Non Pregnant = 51%

IDA – Low serum ferritin-Pregnant = 38.2% & -Non Pregnant = 26.8%

ChildrenChildhood Anaemia = 62%

-Moderate (7-10.99) = 57% & Severe (< 7) = 5%

IDA- Low serum Ferritin = 43.8%

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Cont…….

• One in five pregnant and lactating women and one in three children under the age of 5 were anemic due to iron deficiency

• Night blindness affected 16% of pregnant women, and more than 50% of children were vitamin A deficient.

• About 40% of women and children were deficient in zinc

• 70% of pregnant women and 40% of children were deficient in vitamin D.

Cont…….

• persistent high rates of stunting (44%) and wasting (15%) among children under 5

• Food fortification is safe and cost-effective in the prevention of micronutrient deficiencies and has been widely practiced in developed countries for well over a century

MILLS CHAKKIS

Registered Mills with Pakistan Flour Mills

Association

1,575 Maximum Chakkis are in Central Punjab

Punjab 925 5,193

Sindh 325 2,467

KPK 265 1,005

Balochistan 60 260

Structure of Flour Industry

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Potential Actions required for Fortification

• Various potential actions for improving the regulatory environment for food fortification are necessary

• continued advocacy for legislation standards • expanding and improving inspection and food

sample collection capacity • expanding and improving laboratory analytical

capacity • investigating the barriers to effective

prosecution for non-compliance

Fortification in Pakistan• In Pakistan, fortification of edible oil was mandated by

legislation at the federal level in 1965 and has been retained in the provincial food laws in all four provinces

• No provincial legislation is in place for wheat flour fortification

• Currently only Sindh legislates the compulsory iodization of salt

• Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan both mandate salt iodization province-wide through amendments to the regulations that attend the provincial food laws

• the majority of districts in Punjab have implemented by-law amendments to the same effect.

The role of the private sector In the context of the privately owned wheat flour and edible oil/ghee

industries in Pakistan, the barriers to implementing fortification cluster in two main areas at the level of the manufacturing unit are:

• Procurement of additional production inputs, including: • Fortificant premixes • Capital equipment

• Establishing sufficient internal quality control, including: • Equipment calibration and appropriate premix storage and

dispensing • Internal analytical capacity for sample testing • Independent external laboratory analyses

Potential agricultural solutions

• Biofortification through plant breeding techniques

• biofortified high-zinc wheat • With about 80% of the cultivated area in

Pakistan deficient in zinc, the use of zinc-fortified fertilizer is another agricultural strategy for increasing the micronutrient content of staple crops

4 important steps

• wheat flour fortification with iron & folic acid• edible oil/ghee fortification with vitamin A & D• Biofortification to address iron and zinc

content of wheat • zinc-fortified fertilizers

The regulatory environment for food fortification in Pakistan

• Legislation • Pure Food Laws and national standards • In each province, current food quality and safety

law is derived from the West Pakistan Pure Food Ordinance of 1960, its amendment Act in 1963, and the associated Rules promulgated in 1965.

• In Punjab, the Pure Food Ordinance of 1965 was fully repealed and replaced by the Punjab Food Authority Act in 2011, along with new Punjab Pure Food Rules.

Current status of legislation on the fortification of wheat flour

• There is currently no provincial legislation in place for the mandatory fortification of wheat flour. A national standard specification has been developed, distinguishing fortified flour from regular flour by the addition of one or more of vitamins or minerals: calcium carbonate, iron, thiamine, riboflavin and niacin. Folic acid is not listed. A permissible range for the addition of calcium carbonate is given, but no further specification on fortification levels is included.

Current status of legislation on the fortification of edible oil/ghee

• The fortification of edible oils and ghee with vitamin A was mandated under the West Pakistan Pure Food Rules of 1965 and this provision has been retained in the Pure Food Rules in all provinces. The current Pakistan Standard Specification requires the addition of 33,000 international units of vitamin A per kilogram of finished product, and this national standard is reflected across the provincial Pure Food Rules.

Current status of legislation on salt iodization

Monitoring & enforcement framework

• Role of the Provincial Health Department • Role of the Provincial Food Department • PSQCAOther institutions supporting monitoring and

enforcement • PCSIR• NIH• National Institute of Food Science and Technology,

University of Agriculture , Faisalabad• Nutrition Research Laboratory, Aga Khan University

Existing constraints on effective regulation

• Lack of legislation for mandatory wheat flour fortification

• Limited quantity and technical capacity of food inspectors

• Limited quantity and analytical capacity of public sector and other accredited laboratories for testing food samples, with respect to micronutrient characteristics of wheat flour and edible oil/ghee

• Coordinating capacity for monitoring and enforcement activities

National Wheat Flour Fortification Programme

• The National Wheat Flour Fortification Programme (NWFFP) was launched in 2005, with funding support from GAIN, technical support from MI, and substantial industry commitment from the Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA).

• in 2010, about 125 flour mills had started fortifying flour, mostly with mill-purchased microfeeders and GAIN-subsidized premix

• Programme operations were suspended with the dissolution of the federal Ministry of Health, the legal entity to which GAIN provided support

Revival

• In collaboration with the Government of Punjab and PFMA, GAIN-supported wheat flour fortification activities resumed in October 2013 in Collaboration with PFMA , with a renewed focus on legislation as well as on capacity development in quality assurance and mill-level quality control.

• Now NIFSAT is integral part of this National Fortification Programme to play a major role.

Cont……

• Domestic wheat production in Pakistan was estimated at 23.5 million metric tonnes (MT) with 75% of all wheat produced in Punjab province

• Domestic food consumption of wheat was estimated at 21.8 million MT with a per capita consumption of about 121 kg/year or 332g/day.

Pakistan Flour Mills Association

Cont…..

• The wheat flour milling industry in Pakistan is privately owned.

• 1575 wheat flour mills are registered with the Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA), the main industry representative body

• with a collective installed capacity of 300,000 MT per day.

• Many mills operate at only a fraction of their installed capacity, with many smaller ones processing only their wheat quota, which is sufficient for three hours of milling.

Further opportunities for promoting food fortification in the private sector

• Wheat flour fortification at the village level

• Fortification of complementary food for infants and young children

• Fortification of dairy foods

Agricultural interventions for food fortification in Pakistan

• Biofortification• NR-421 (Candidate Wheat Variety) Contains zinc > 37

microgram per gram, iron > 70 microgram per gram, and high in protein content

• NR-419 (Candidate Wheat Variety) Contains > 37 microgram zinc per gram and >70 microgram iron per gram

• NR-439 (Potential Wheat Line) • Contains > 37 microgram zinc per gram and sufficient quantity

of iron ••

Development of Biofortified seeds

Further needed ?

• Marketing development of fortified seeds and products

• Seed financing• Micronutrient fertilizers• Crop diversification

Evidence of effect and prospects for implementation and scale-up in Pakistan

• Wheat flour fortification with iron and folic acid

• Fortification of edible oil/ghee with vitamin A• Biofortification of wheat with zinc• Fortification of fertilizer with zinc

Fortification status

There are no specified rules at national and provincial levels for wheat flour fortification

Almost all stakeholders including • Government• Monitoring and Control Authorities in Health • Food departments • Flour millers agree on mandatory

fortification

Fortification status in Pakistan

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cont…..Provincial Food Departments states that wheat

flour fortification should be done at the cost of the consumer instead of being subsidized by the Government

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Projected benefits and costs

Benefit

Funds required

Dosage recommended

• Iron NaFeEDTA 20 PPM• Folic Acid 1.3 PPM• Vit B12 0.01 PPM• Vit A 1.5• Zinc Low Extraction 40 PPM• ZINC High Extraction 80 PPM

Recommendations• Potential actions to improve the regulatory

environment for food fortification in Pakistan• Legislation and standards • Monitoring and enforcement Inspection and sample collection Analytical capacity Regulation of internal quality control capacityProsecution and penalties

THANK YOU

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