Impact of South African fortification legislation on product formulation for low-income households

Newly introduced legislation for the fortification of maize meal and bread flour in South Africa enhanced nutritive intakes for selected nutrients and enabled the formulation of an affordable, dry, plant-based premixed food product for low-income households. Firstly, the nutritive intakes and relatedness to prevalent nutrient deficiencies in South Africa were calculated to portray the impact of the implemented food fortification legislation [Republic of South Africa (RSA), 2003. Department of Health. Government notice. No. R2003. Regulations relating to the fortification of certain foodstuffs. Section 15(1) of the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act, No. 54 of 1972. Retrieved February 25, 2005, 〈http://www.doh.gov.za/search/default.asp〉]. Despite fortification, nutritive intakes were still significantly less than recommended. Linear programming was then applied to plot the estimated average requirements (EAR) for females (19–50 years) against nutritive content and cost of 100 g cooked product of each of the constituent ingredients of the premix product. Programming constraints were manipulated to identify the most viable ratio of possible ingredients to satisfy the indicated nutritive requirements and affordability. Due to fortification, vitamin A was eliminated as major formulation constraint, enabling satisfaction for vitamin A, zinc, iron and folate. Constraints for pyridoxine, riboflavin and thiamine were alleviated, facilitating product formulation. The provisioning for energy (−5%) and potassium (−7%) were indicated as limitations and relaxed to derive a reasonable answer. However, nutrients naturally restricted in cereal grains and legumes could not be provided for. The approach as developed could be applied by industry and others to enhance affordable and sustained nutrient intake to survival households.