Miller Magazine Issue 146 February 2022

64 COVER STORY MILLER / FEBRUARY 2022 level and can help achieve international public health goals. Fortification programmes must be monitored to confirm that they are working effectively, thereby ensuring the population is receiving a nutritious and safe fortified end-product. The devel- opment of fortification monitoring systems that can be properly implemented and maintained requires careful planning. The fortification process is usually a continuous process that adds premix to flour as it is being produced. In some cases, fortification takes place in a high speed blending system follow- ing the flour milling process. In this case, this system is usually installed as part of a new flour mill. All flour mills need to monitor the flour production process in- ternally to ensure that flour of consistent quality is produced. In- ternal monitoring refers to the procedures and tests carried out by the flour producers (mills) to manufacture flour as detailed in the standards. It includes quality assurance (QA) and quality con- trol (QC). QA refers to the activities that are undertaken during production to ensure that the flour will meet the standards, and QC refers to tests and assessments of the flour to document and prove that it meets the standards. When fortification is included in the flour standards, millers will need to add fortificants to flour during the milling process if they want to claim that their product is fortified. Likewise, mill staff will need to monitor the fortification processes to ensure the resulting fortified flour is consistently produced as detailed in the standards. The most common way to fortify flour is using a micro feeder. This adds premix to flour at pre-determined rates in the process of flour production. Three types of feeders are available: screw, revolving disk and drum or roller. Screw feeders are the most common. They dispense a set volume of premix at a constant rate. The size of the screw determines the feed rate capacity, and this allows a wide range of delivery rates. Mills generally need one feeder per type of flour or meal line to be fortified. The size and number of feeders needed depends on the amount of flour produced per hour. MINERALS AND VITAMINS USED IN FLOUR FORTIFICATION Minerals Vitamins Iron Folic Acid (B9) Zinc Thiamine (B1) Damaged (including weevils damage) – max 3% Riboflavin (B2) Other color – max 3% or 4% Niacin (B3) B12 Vitamin A Vitamin D