Implementing and scaling wheat flour fortification programmes

The Department of Nutrition and Food Safety of the World Health Organization (WHO) is hosting the second webinar of the WHO Food Fortification Community of Practice Expert Hour Series. This webinar will bring together expert perspectives and country experiences on wheat flour fortification, including implementation and monitoring experiences, regulatory considerations, and key challenges in scaling up for impact.

Wheat flour is one of the most widely consumed staple foods globally, making it a highly effective vehicle for public health interventions. Implementing and scaling up wheat flour fortification programmes presents a proven, highly cost-effective strategy to combat micronutrient deficiencies, reduce anemia, and prevent neural tube defects. More than 80 countries have mandatory wheat flour fortification while 16 countries have standards for voluntary fortification. WHO recommends fortification of wheat flour with highly bioavailable iron to improve iron status and prevent anaemia, and with folic acid to improve folate status and reduce the risk of neural tube defects. Zinc fortification may also be used to improve zinc status.

A series of virtual Expert Hours on food fortification brings together Member States, partners, technical experts, and global leaders in the field with the objective of knowledge sharing and exchange of experiences on food fortification.

For technical questions and discussion, please post your queries in the Food Fortification Community of Practice (Live feed | Food fortification). If you have not yet joined the community, please register here.