Flour Fortification Initiative (FFI) works for flour fortification in the international area. It has a network in which national and international organizations, governments to come together. The coordinator of this initiative in Türkiye is Turkish Flour Industrialists’ Federation (TFIF).

7 Reasons of Flour Fortification

• Wheat flour is a basic food material whose consumption is widespread. Hence, fortification of flour is an effective and economic way to prevent the deficiencies of essential nutrients in a large mass of people.  
• The vitamins and minerals used in fortification are vital to prevent the nutritional element related health disorders such as anemia (iron deficiency).
• Fortification of flour during milling is more effective than fortification of bakery products because the use of lour is widespread in the society.
• Fortification of food material has a significant impact on common public health.
• The public performance will increase and economics will improve because the people who consume enriched flour would be healthy.
• According to the predictions of World Bank, the deficiency of nutritive elements is able to diminish the gross national product (GNP) in the rate of 5%. On the other hand, fortification of essential food materials is provided and health disorders related with lack of nutrition is put away by the 0,15 % nominal share of GNP.
• Flour millers can have a key role to overcome nutrition related health problems by enriching the flour. They can supply to the consumers superior and healthier food with a very low extra capital. 

General Overview on Fortification Process

Fortification is a process in which the vitamins and minerals are added to the wheat flour during milling in order to gain more qualified and more nutritive products.

Fortification process is accomplished by the addition of vitamins and minerals (micronutrient premix) in dust form during milling.

The whole grain includes macronutrients such as calorie, protein, carbohydrate and diet fibers; also, it contains vitamins and minerals (micronutrients).

Generally, the vitamins present in the bran and the germ is separated during milling of wheat.

As a result of milling, the nutritional value of the product is very much lower than the one of whole wheat.

Fortification applications  (3 groups);

• Restoration
• Enrichment
• Fortification

Restoration

The nutritional elements present naturally in whole wheat are lost during milling. Enrichment is to make their values (after milling) equal to the nutritional value of pre-milling.

Enrichment

To increase of nutritional value of ground wheat flour to a higher degree than natural amount of vitamins and mineral present in whole wheat. This type of fortification is applied by the addition of deficient nutrients to the flour in the societies where the consumption of bakery products is widespread.

Fortification

Fortification is the addition of nutritional elements which are absent in whole wheat in order to get rid of nutritional deficiencies. (For example, vitamin A, calcium, vitamin B12 can be added.)

The Vitamins and Minerals Used in Flour Fortification

Widely used vitamins and minerals

• Iron
• Zinc
• Folic Acid
• Vitamin B (Thiamin, Riboflavin and Niacin)
• In some countries; Vitamin A, Calcium and B12

Determination of the premix components

• Generally, it is decided by counting on the determinations of the organizations whose research areas are alimentary standards and the eating disorders in the society.
• Other factors:
  • Current regulations
  • Nutritional needs and deficiencies in the society
  • Cost of different premix combinations
  • Research results on vitamin and mineral deficiencie

The Importance of Fortification In Terms of Public Health

Fortification is applied successfully in many countries

• USA and Canada has maintained fortification with a great success since 1941. Deu to this, many nutritional deficiencies related disorder is vanished in these countries.
• Fortification process has been tried in many countries and carried out successfully.

Effects of Fortified Flour

• It is predicted that the yearly contribution of fortification with folic acid top the economy is between 312 and 425 million USA dollars. The yearly decrease in direct cost is 88–145 million USA dollars / year.
• According to study applied on 38 thousand women on the age of 12-42, the RBC (red blood cell) folate values of the women increased approximately 214 nmole/liter (unpaired t-test: p<_0.00129_ in="" ontaryo="" city="" of="" canada.="" _thus2c_="" the="" level="" iron="" deficiency="" decreased="" from="" _62c_325_="" to="" _0.8825_.="">