Elements of a National Food- Fortification Program for Bangladesh

Section 5: Elements of a National Food-Fortification Programflour in plastic, which would prevent the flourfrom accumulating moisture from the humidair that normally prevails in Bangladesh.However, when the flour is being marketedwithin a short period, as is currently the case,plastic is not essential.Accurate labeling is critical whenfortification is not mandatory, as expectedin the case of wheat flour in Bangladesh.When fortification is not mandatory, labelingis the only means by which consumers andinspectors can distinguish fortified flour fromthe regular product. Information contained inlabeling can also be a useful part of promotionand consumer education.Packaging material also plays an importantrole in labeling. It is easier to print detailedlabel information on plastic than on jute sackmaterials. Furthermore, it is common forthe large sacks to be reused — a procedurethat could lead to confusion and perhapsto deceptive practices by unscrupulousmerchants, who could place regular flour ina sack that had been labeled as containingfortified flour.For purposes of clear product identification,the small plastic bags would be a preferredmethod of packaging fortified flour. However,these bags are expensive and normally addone takka or more per kg to the retail price offlour, which would tend to place it out of thereach of poorer consumers. Large (25 kg) bagswith plastic lining, such as those currentlyused by WFP under the pilot program, can beclearly labeled and, while they do cost morethan the plain jute sacks, they cost less ona per-kilogram basis than small, individualplastic bags.National Capacity to ImplementFood FortificationThere is fervent commitment to foodfortification in Bangladesh at the highestlevel of government, and a strong public andprivate-sector partnership is emerging.public and private sectors, civil society, andinternational development partners. Headedby the Minister of Industries, NFA includesthe Principal Secretary, Prime Minister’sOffice, and Secretaries of the Ministries ofAgriculture, Commerce, Health and FamilyWelfare, Food, and Science, Technology, andInformation Communications.NFA’s private-sector members includethe Presidents of the Vegetable Oil RefinersAssociation, the Oil Mill Refiners Association,and the Major and Compact Flour Mill OwnersAssociation. International developmentpartners are represented by USAID, WFP,UNICEF, World Health Organization, theMicronutrient Initiative, and the InternationalCenter for Diarrheal Diseases and Research.A Technical Committee provides specializedsupport to NFA and its members. NFA held itsfirst meeting in April 2004.A rapid assessment conducted for thisstudy indicates that Bangladesh has thenecessary human and institutional capacityto implement food fortification on a nationalscale. However, available evidence suggeststhat while NFA partners are interested infood fortification, they will be unable to putthe program into action without technicalsupport. An integrated package of keytechnical-assistance interventions provided bythe Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition,USAID, and other donors would help createthe conditions for NFA partners to proceed.Technical-assistance interventions will beneeded to implement all five component offood fortification: production and distribution,including industrial implementation andquality assurance/control; food control,including legislation, inspection andenforcement, and program testing andmonitoring; communications and marketing;monitoring and evaluation; and programmanagement.In December 2003, NFA was formed,consisting of over 30 members from the18MOST The USAID Micronutrient Program