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Under-nutrition and micronutrient fortification

Our commitment: Address under-nutrition through micronutrient fortification

micronutrient fortification

Helping families achieve good nutrition

Many people suffer from deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals, leading to health impairment and, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), costs society up to USD 2.1 trillion every year. The WHO, as well as the UN SDGs, set targets to tackle malnutrition.

We fortify popular foods and beverages where relevant nutrients are unavailable or difficult for families and children to access, especially in vulnerable populations. We are also exploring biofortification as a future solution.


Progress against our objectives Our results

By 2020: Reach millions of children and families with fortified foods and beverages.

By 2020: Initiate collective action to reduce micronutrient deficiencies in 10 countries.

By 2020: Continue to develop the supply chain for biofortified crops and expand our fortified portfolio.

83%* of our Popularly Positioned Products (PPPs) for lower-income consumers were fortified with at least one of the ‘Big 4’**

174 billion servings of fortified foods and beverages in 66 countries with higher vulnerability to micronutrient malnutrition.

We remain committed to buying more biofortified crops from our suppliers, but are dependent on harvests. In 2017, for example, we faced challenges in a project in Nigeria, where the production needs for maize that corresponded to our criteria could not be fully met.

In 2017, we initiated four collaborative actions, involving government officials and stakeholder groups.

*Number of total fortified servings provides data from 66 countries from a reporting system. No internal estimates were done for the rest of the world in 2017.

** The ‘Big 4’ are Vitamins A and D, iron, zinc.