“Food Fortification”-A Valuable Mystery in Present Food Decades for Wonderful Nutrition

Abstract

Food fortification is the process of adding micronutrients (essential trace elements and vitamins) to food. Staple foods of a region can lack particular nutrients due to the soil of the region or from inherent inadequacy of a normal diet. As defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), fortification refers to "the practice of deliberately increasing the content of an essential micronutrient, i.e. vitamins and minerals (including trace elements) in a food irrespective of whether the nutrients were originally in the food before processing or not, so as to improve the nutritional quality of the food supply and to provide a public health benefit with minimal risk to health", From the technical point of view, nutritional stability during formulation, preparation, and processing is crucial for the effective production of fortified foods. benefit of food fortification with selected micronutrients most relevant for developing countries. Micronutrients covered include iron, iodine, vitamin A, and zinc. The main focus is on commercial fortification, although home fortification and biofortification are focussed. Fortification with iron, vitamin A, and zinc averts significant numbers of infant and child deaths and is a very attractive preventive health-care intervention.