Fortified rice: An opportunity to address
micronutrient deficiencies
Need for fortifying rice in India:
About 65% of India’s population consumes rice as a staple.
Rice is a large source of calories and core component of agriculture and
nutrition in most of India though low in micronutrients.
Milling of rice removes the fat and micronutrient rich bran layers to produce
the commonly consumed starch white rice.
Polishing further removes 75-90% of vit. B1, vit. B6, vit. E and Niacin.
Fortifying rice provides an opportunity to add back the lost micronutrients but
to also add others such as iron, zinc, folic acid, vit. B12 and vit. A.
Rice fortification: understanding a
few key terms
Term
Understanding a few key terms: Definition
Fortificant Selected micronutrient in a particular
form to fortify selected food
Fortificant mix (premix) Blend that contains several fortificants
(vitamins and minerals)
Fortified kernels Rice-shaped kernels, made of rice flour,
fortified with the fortificant mix
Fortified rice Non-fortified rice blended with the
fortified kernels (at 0.5 – 2% ratio;
typically 1%)
The process to fortify rice comprises
two main steps
Fortifying rice: making rice more nutritious by adding essential vitamins and minerals
Fortifying rice is a two-step process:
Low cost high quality production facility (Usher Agro ltd) for producing fortified rice
enabled in India
Milled rice Fortified rice
Rice 2
mill
Broken/head rice Fortified kernels
1
1: Add vitamins and minerals (pre-mix)
2: Blend 0.5-2% ratio
Equipment required for manufacture of
extruded FRK
Rice flour, premix,
additives
Pre-Conditioner
Twin-Screw
Extrusion Barrel
Vertical Mixer
7-Layer
Conveyor Oven
Fortified rice kernels
Industries capable of
FRK production capacity in India
manufacturing fortified rice
kernels Manufacturer Location Per day
capacity
• Rice Mills
Usher Agro Mathura, UP 1MT
Limited
• Extruded snack manufacturers Daawat Foods Bhopal, MP 2MT
Ltd.
• Pasta manufacturers Christy Foods Namakkal, 3MT
India Pvt. Ltd Tamil Nadu
Equipment required for blending of
rice with FRK
Impact of fortifying rice with different
MN – 15 published papers
No. of studies that
Micronutrient Fortificant forms included the
micronutrients
MFPP (ferric 14 / 1
Iron
pyrophosphate) / FeSO4
Zinc Zinc oxide 1
Folic acid Folic acid 1
Vit B12 Cyanocobalamin 1
Vit A Vit A palmitate 4
Thiamin Thiamin 2
Niacin Niacinamide 0
Vit B6 Pyridoxine hydrochloride 1
Characteristics of 15 published papers
Study populations:
• Philippines, India, Thailand, Nepal, Brazil, Mexico
• School-age children , women of reproductive age, preschoolers, 6-23 mo old children
• Some studies targeted anemic individuals
Important to note:
• First study ‘47-’49, Philippines, coated rice, iron, B1, B3 – focused on beri-beri
• All other studies on extruded rice (hot & cold)
• 13 Efficacy, 2 effectiveness studies
• 10 studies on Fe only, 4 multi-MN, 1 VA only
• School children, one meal per day
Impact of fortifying rice with different MN –
study results
Micronutrient Study details
Iron 14 studies
1 – Pinkaew (2014) – Thailand – 20 mg/meal- increase
Zinc
1 – Thankachan (2012) – India – 75 ug/meal-decrease of
Folic acid
homocysteine
1 – Thankachan (2012) – India – 0.75 ug/meal- increase of
Vit B12
plasma B12
Vit A 4 studies
Salcedo (1950) – Philippines – 0.44 mg/100 g – beri beri
prevalence dropped (14.3 to 1.5%);
Thiamin
Thankachan (2012) – India – 0.38 mg/meal – increase
Niacin 0 studies
Vit B6 1 study, but B6 status not assessed
Studies on iron fortified rice (n=14)
Results:
• Hb improvement / anemia decline – 6/12 studies
• Iron status parameters improved – 6/8 studies
• 2 did not report on Hb or iron status
6 countries mandate fortification of rice
India summary of evidence on rice
fortification N=4
Type of Research Country/ Year Study Objectives
Research Organization
Efficacy National Institute of India 2007-2008 To assess the impact of consuming rice
Nutrition, Indian Council of fortified with iron, Ultra Rice, on the iron
Medical Research, status of children in a mid-day meal
Hyderabad, India program in India.
Efficacy Division of Nutrition, St. India 2009-2010 To study the efficacy of rice-based lunch
John’s Research Institute, meals fortified with multiple
St. John’s National micronutrients, including vitamin A,
Academy of Health thiamine, niacin, itamin B-6, vitamin B-12,
Sciences, Bangalore, India. folic acid, and zinc, in combination with
high or low concentrations of iron on
anemia, micronutrient status, and the
physical and cognitive performance of
Indian schoolchildren.
Acceptability, National Institute of India 2006 To test the organoleptic properties of rice
Sensory Nutrition, Indian Council of fortified with iron Ultra Rice.
Medical Research,
Hyderabad, India
Acceptability, Indian Market Research India To gauge the organoleptic acceptance of
Sensory Bureau International 2003 Ultra Rice fortified with ferrous sulfate and
(IMRB), New Delhi, India the sensitivity of potential target
segments.
Initiatives on introducing fortified
rice through the public sector
schemes in India
Project Project Project Quantity of Number of Implementi
Implementa period beneficiary fortified beneficiarie ng agency
tion type rice s
Geography distributed
Andhra 2008-10 Mid-day 1000MT 60,000 Naandi
Pradesh meal foundation/
scheme (6 - PATH
14 yr. old)
Karnataka/ 450,000/ MDM/ Akshay
Rajasthan 2011 Mid-day 3300 MTs 185,000 Akshay
Patra Foundation with PATH
meal Patra
scheme (6 - Foundation
14 yr. old) /PATH
Orissa 2012-2015 Mid-day 5352 MTs 100,000 WFP
meal
2017-2019 scheme (6 - 1840 MTs/ 61,000
14 yr. old) per annum
Rice Fortification Project in Odisha
Goal: Operationalizing rice fortification Sundargarh
through the platform of the mid-day
meal Jharsuguda
Mayurbhanj
Keonjhar Balasore
Deogarh
Sambalpur
Modality: Fortification of FCI rice at a Bargarh
centralized location and its distribution Sonepur Bhadrak
and consumption in the MDM across
Angul Jajpur
Dhenkanal
Boudh
schools in Gajapati. Nuapada Bolangir Kendrapara
Cuttack
Jagatsingpur
NayagarhKhurda
Kandhamal
Coverage: 99,231 school children across Kalahandi
Puri
1473 schools in Gajapati Nabrangpur
Ganjam
Rayagada
Gajapati
Duration: 1st Dec., 2012- 30th Oct., 2015
Koraput
Malkangiri
There was an overall
Results: prevalence of decrease in the prevalence
of anemia from 65% to 45%
anemia in Gajapati.
60
55
52
50
40 38
35 36
34 33
31 30
30
26
20
15 16
10
0
Baseline Endline Baseline Endline
Mild Moderate Normal
Gajapati (intervention) Rayagada (control)
Conclusions from rice pilot in
Odisha:
• Use of rice as a vehicle for fortification is technically
effective and operationally feasible in existing government
systems and schemes such as the MDM.
• Rice fortification reinforces, complements and supports
ongoing nutrition improvement programmes such as
supplementation & dietary diversification.
Incremental cost
Increase in cost of rice on account of
fortification= 0.83 INR/kg
Cost expected to further decrease due to
economies of scale.
World Food Programme
Thank you
