In recognition
of its efforts and investments in food fortification and infrastructure,
culminating in Nigeria’s first state-of-the-art vitamin premix facility, Crown
Flour Mill Limited (CFM), the flour milling subsidiary of Olam Nigeria, an
agribusiness conglomerate, has received widespread commendation for
consistently delivering highly fortified, quality and affordable food staples
that meet global standards and improve public health.
This assertion was made at a
Food Fortification webinar, organised by the Global Alliance
for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), on Wednesday, June 30, 2021, the flour milling
company has successfully ramped up its food processing methodology through
quality partnership and acquisition of a state-of-the-art premix facility to
provide food products that improve the health of the Nigerian population.
Andreas Bluethner, Director
of Nutrition at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) who moderated the panel
discussion, said, “Olam's CFM has been able to
achieve 90% food fortification compliance in flour production to deliver foods
that change the lives of people who suffer from food deficiency diseases.”
He added: “Olam’s
approach offers a sound model for other food manufacturers which seek to drive
business competitiveness by delivering food products that contain the right
micronutrients and engender regulatory and consumer confidence.”
Speaking on
CFM’s food fortification achievements, Ashish Pande, Managing Director of Crown
Flour Mill Limited, highlighted that by leveraging technology, the company is able to determine and achieve food fortification
data accuracy at its fully digitalized vitamins premix plant in Lagos.
He said,
“CFM’s state-of-the-art vitamins premix facility delivers 99.9% food
fortification data accuracy. We have therefore been able to choose the right
level of micronutrients in all our food product processing efforts in line with
global best practices and regulatory standards.”
“These quality
assurance investments in our food processing facilities are delivering highly
nutritious meals that are more affordable, easily accessible and instill confidence
in all our products across the market."
He cited, for
instance, the affordable pricing structure and quality of bread produced by
bakers who use CFM's Mama Gold flour in their bakeries. Because our flour
brands contain the right micronutrient mix, and has qualities like better water
absorption and taste, the bakers prefer to buy the flour brands for making
bread that meets consumers’ shrinking wallet, deliver maximum returns and support
healthy living.
The food
fortification event was tagged “Scaling up innovation for a fortified
future: fortification quality digitization”. The event provided a
high-level overview of quality compliance challenges in food fortification on
local and global scales; it also explored how digitization can solve the various
food fortification challenges.
Panellists for
the food fortification webinar were drawn from across varying areas of
expertise in food processing like data analytics, IT, not-for-profit advocacy
and regulatory sectors. The panellists were Dipika Matthias, Deputy Director,
Nutrition, BMGF, USA; Bernard Kowatsch, Head of World Food Programme Innovation
Accelerator, Italy; Ashish Pande, Managing Director, Crown Flour Mill Limited,
Nigeria; Anna Zhenchuk, Managing Director, BioAnalyt, Germany; Zameer Haider,
National Program Manager for Oil Fortification, Nutrition International,
Pakistan; Janice Zdankus, Vice President of Innovation for Social Impact,
Hewlett Packard Enterprise, USA; Harun Rashid, Chairman, Shakti Edible Oil,
Bangladesh; and Imtiaz Masud, Head of QA & EMS, Bangladesh Edible Oil,
Bangladesh.
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