THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS — Millers from Africa and Asia have joined other stakeholders to announce a commitment to reach 1 billion people with adequately fortified rice, edible oil and flour by 2026. To do this, Millers for Nutrition, a new industry-led coalition, said it will make adequate fortification of staple foods easier and more rewarding for millers, the businesses responsible for processing dietary staples like flour, cooking oil and rice.

The launch of Millers for Nutrition at this week’s Micronutrient Forum’s 6th Global Nutrition for Resilience Conference comes as the world faces a worsening food and nutrition crisis. Healthy diets, nutrition education, optimal breastfeeding and food fortification are important components of a comprehensive response to the devastating impacts of malnutrition. By adding essential vitamins and minerals to the widely consumed foods they produce, millers can play an important role in reducing malnutrition and improving public health, according to the coalition.

Millers who join Millers for Nutrition and commit to improving the nutritional quality of their food will receive free technical support to make it easier to fortify their products. This includes access to tailored technical training and business advice, product testing support and online tools and resources, which also will help millers to reduce their compliance risk and enhance production efficiency.

As fortification quality improves, members will benefit as they gain greater recognition for product quality and industry leadership, for example, through inclusion in a specially designed index that rates brands on fortification performance, and associated visibility at events and in local media.

Millers for Nutrition is being implemented in eight countries across Africa and Asia: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan and Tanzania, and across three staple food vehicles: rice, edible oil, and flour (wheat and maize). In each country, the focus of Millers for Nutrition activities will be based on government-led priorities and legislation and will align closely with the existing nutrition and food fortification strategies of governments and NGO partners.

“Every day, millers overcome difficult operational and business challenges to deliver healthy, quality food products to consumers,” said Paloma Fernandes, chief executive officer of the Cereal Millers Association of Kenya, which is supporting the new coalition. “Millers for Nutrition is a game-changing initiative that will make this vital work easier, and in so doing will bring better nutrition to millions of people in Kenya.”

Millers for Nutrition is a cross-sector partnership, with millers at the center and industry partners from across the food fortification value chain, including founding partners BASF, dsm-firmenich, Mühlenchemie/SternVitamin, Piramal, BioAnalyt and Sanku contributing technical expertise and support to millers.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is providing strategic input and investment to support the creation of the coalition. International nonprofit TechnoServe, which has significant experience supporting industry-led fortification capacity building efforts, will coordinate program activities.

“Fortified foods make a powerful difference in the health and diets of people every day — and they simply wouldn’t be possible without the leadership of millers,” said Rodger Voorhies, president, Global Growth and Opportunity at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “We are delighted to support Millers for Nutrition alongside our industry partners to ensure millers receive the recognition they deserve, and to support them in increasing access to nourishing foods for those who need it most.”

The coalition said miller members will be entitled to benefits according to their membership level. As fortification performance improves, millers “graduate” to a new membership level and rewards and recognition increase. The coalition also will serve as a platform for accelerating and scaling industry-led innovation in food fortification. For example, Millers for Nutrition is helping to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of premix and product testing, and to develop better solutions for small mills.