Scaling up the production and distribution of double-fortified salt in India
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Summary
After a decade of laboratory and pilot plant work in Canada and India, a cost-effective, double-fortified salt formulation has been successfully tested for efficacy and use in the field.Read more
After a decade of laboratory and pilot plant work in Canada and India, a cost-effective, double-fortified salt formulation has been successfully tested for efficacy and use in the field. Building on the success of universal salt iodization, which reaches 5 billion people globally, this salt enables regular, sustained intake of iron in addition to iodine. It recently received regulatory approval in India. This project will adapt and transfer the technology from Canada to India. It will take to scale the manufacture and distribution of a shelf-stable salt, double-fortified with iron and iodine. It will generate new knowledge and innovation to improve the diets of up to 15 million rural poor (predominantly those engaged in agriculture) in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The technology will be specifically tailored to existing manufacturing capabilities, ensuring sustainability and adherence to quality standards beyond the project period. By the end of 28 months, the new salt product will be supplied in 10 districts in Uttar Pradesh through fair price shops under the public distribution system. Lower-income populations will be targeted. The team will work to reduce the cost of production and transfer it to private sector food processors in India. Public and private sector models, based on consumer response and policy dialogue, will be developed for continued and expanded availability of the salt throughout India, where 800 million people consume salt on a daily basis. This project is funded under the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund (CIFSRF), a program of IDRC undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through Global Affairs Canada (formerly Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada).
Research outputs
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L'une des campagnes de santé publique les plus réussies au monde, soit l'ajout d'iode au sel, touche chaque jour cinq milliards de personnes dans le monde et 800 millions de personnes en Inde. Après 20 ans d'efforts, des chercheurs canadiens ont trouvé une solution économique pour enrichir le sel en fer et en iode, un exploit qui a longtemps échappé aux scientifiques des produits alimentaires. Sur la base d'importants projets pilotes et d’évaluations des impacts, les travaux ont débuté pour fournir du sel doublement enrichi à plus de 15 millions de personnes dans l'une des régions les plus pauvres et les plus touchées par l'insécurité alimentaire en Inde.
Canadian and Indian research collaborators have produced a double-fortified salt (DFS) containing iron and iodine that can be produced on a mass scale. The manufacture and sustainable distribution system provides DFS for regular daily use to more than 50 million people in three Indian states. It costs less than CAD$0.25/person/year to add iron to salt. The project brief includes details of this successful project development and implementation. Iron deficiency is the most widespread form of malnutrition in the world, afflicting nearly two billion people globally, primarily women and children.
A 20-year effort by Canadian researchers has yielded a cost-effective way to fortify salt with both iron and iodine. Studies found it reduced anemia by 66%, provided 30-50% of the daily recommended intake of iron, significantly improved cognitive skills and energy levels among women, and had broad consumer acceptance in 13 countries, including India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. DFS remains stable in hot and humid climates, is indistinguishable from regular salt, and can be easily manufactured in existing processing facilities. Building on extensive testing and impact assessments, work has begun to bring double fortified salt (DFS) to over 15 million people..
The project addresses the most widespread form of malnutrition in the world: iron deficiency afflicts 2 billion people, principally women and children, causing anemia, reduced energy, damped cognition, and increased maternal mortality. Addressing it constitutes a historic contribution to gender equity. The Food Engineering Group at the University of Toronto (U of T) with support from the Government of Canada through the Micronutrient Initiative (1995 – 2013) developed microencapsulation-based technology to produce iron premix for double-fortified salt (iron and iodine). Between 2015-2018 the project reached an estimated 50+ million people making it arguably one of the world’s largest and fastest growing new development innovations.
India has regions with some of the highest levels of anemia prevalence among women and children in the world - with no measurable improvement over the past 20 years despite a quadrupling of economic output. A staggering 52% of women of reproductive age and 58% of children under five years are anemic. The human costs are astronomical in terms of loss of energy, illness, reduced cognition and IQ, and loss in productivity. It is a severe public health problem that requires to be addressed urgently. Double Fortified Salt (DFS) presents an opportunity to enhance the iron intakes of low income populations on a sustained basis.
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