Going forward with flour fortification in Africa

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies, in particular deficiencies of iron, iodine, vitamin A and folic acid, cause significant economic losses through increased disabilities and mortality, reduced cognitive development and decreased work productivity of adults. Flour fortification involves adding essential vitamins and minerals to cereal flours (wheat, maize, sorghum) as it is produced, which in turn makes foods prepared with fortified flour more nutritious. Iron, zinc, folic acid, and other B-vitamins are commonly added to wheat and maize flours. This has proven to be a cost-effective means of reducing the prevalence of iron deficiency anaemia and neural tube birth defects and improving overall health. Flour fortification is applied both in developed as developing countries. Regions which implemented fortification programmes include North and South America, West Africa, Middle East and Australia. Specifically for Africa, the number of countries which implemented mandatory flour fortification increased from 2 in 2004 up to 27 in 2016. To obtain a successful national fortification programme, industry and government partners need to take their responsibility. They need to collaborate to produce high quality fortified foods. However, national fortification programmes are often hampered by poorly established or badly designed protocols and monitoring systems, lack of resources and insufficient qualified laboratory resources and expertise to test product samples. As these problems are undermining existing and possible future flour fortification programmes, training on quality assurance and quality control for flour fortification is an essential requirement for countries that are implementing or planning to embark on flour fortification. Since several years, the Smarter Futures project is organizing QA/QC trainings around Africa to support implementing fortification programmes. The strength of such a training is that it brings together the national stakeholders concerning food fortification which are the milling industry and the government agencies (health department, food control, etc.). This presentation will first focus on some technical aspects and challenges related to flour fortification. Further, the setup of the QA/QC training on flour fortification of May 2016, held in Kampala, Uganda will be presented. In this year’s edition, Ghent University, through support of VLIR-UOS (Belgian development cooperation), were able to include 14 participants from academia (MSc – PhD students and lecturers) as a third stakeholder in the training

Granular crystals in palm oil based shortening/margarine : a review

Palm oil based shortenings and margarines are important products within the lipid industry. However, a widespread quality deterioration issue is often reported regarding their long-term storage: the appearance of granular crystals or grains that are regarded as unwanted because of the deflecting visual appearance and the negative mouthfeel during consumption. In this review, the role of fat blends composition, crystallization process and storage conditions in the formation and growth of these unwanted granular crystals will be discussed and summarized. In addition, some potential approaches in preventing the formation of granular crystals in palm oil based shortening and margarine are also introduced

Maize fortification: update on organoleptic studies of various types of maize flours and cooked maize porridges

In flour fortification, a premix containing micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) is added in low dosages to wheat flour or maize meal. It is of uppermost importance that the premix does not cause any changes in the sensory properties of the finished products. In this presentation, the impact of fortificants on the sensory properties of maize meal porridge is discussed

Effect of sourdough addition and storage time on in vitro starch digestibility and estimated glycemic index of tef bread

The effect of sourdough amount and storage time on starch digestibility and estimated glycemic index (eGI) of tef bread was investigated. The rapidly digestible starch (RDS), slowly digestible starch (SDS) and resistant starch (RS) of 0-30% sourdough fresh tef breads ranged from 49 to 58, 16 to 29 and 20 to 26 g/100 g starch, respectively. Storage of tef breads up to 5 days decreased the RDS by more than 2-fold while SDS and RS increased by 2 and 3 fold, respectively. The eGI for fresh and stored breads ranged from 39 to 89. Addition of sourdough increased the eGI of fresh breads while no uniform pattern was seen in the stored breads. As the storage time increased, all the breads showed a decrease in eGI. In vivo study is necessary to further investigate the effect of sourdough on GI of tef bread

The use of essential oils as natural antifungal preservatives in bread products

This review addresses the recent advances of the application of essential oils (EOs) in in vitro systems and in bread systems for the reduction of fungal spoilage. Given the number of research articles concerning the use of EOs as potential antifungal food preservatives, it is generally accepted that they must be given further attention for use in specific food matrices. However, despite the numerous articles stating the antifungal effect of EOs, very few report the actual application in bread or other bakery products and the impact addition can have on dough and bread production, physico-chemical, microbiological and sensorial quality. Advances have been made in the area of food preservation, but further research is necessary to fully comprehend the mode of action and to establish actual food applications of EOs in the bread and bakery industry