Miller Magazine Issue 137 May 2021

86 ARTICLE MILLER / may 2021 Large-scale food fortification initiatives, from workforce and school feeding programs to staple food fortification strategies targeting entire nations, have the potential to improve nutrient intake at scale and thereby support the immune health – and therefore overall health – of the global population, decrease healthcare costs and sup- port brighter futures for all. Rice fortification: methods and their uses As the world’s most consumed staple food, rice is the perfect vehicle for fortification. The WHO recommends that, through post-harvest fortification, millers, rice brand owners and governments can add nutrients or replace a range of vitamins and minerals that are often lost during processing. 15 There are a variety of methods for rice for- tification, including coating, dusting, and hot extrusion. Rice coating involves a fortified solution being coat- ed onto the rice kernels using ingredients such as wax or gum. When using the coating method, it is vital that the rice kernels are rinse-resistant, so the fortified coat- ing will remain fixed to them during washing or soaking. Dusting involves using an electrostatic force to bind a dry micronutrient powder to the surface of the grains. Using this method means that the fortified powder can be lost during washing, or due to excessive contact with water during the cooking process, so consumers would need to receive education on proper preparation in order to fully reap the benefits of the added nutrients. Finally, hot extrusion is the most robust way of fortifying rice. It in- volves grinding and mixing rice flour obtained from bro- ken grains with added nutrients such as fibers and ami- no acids to form a fortified dough, which is then passed through an extruder and mixed in with the non-fortified rice at a low additional rate of typically 1%. What are the benefits of hot extrusion rice fortification? For millers, rice brand owners and the public sector alike, there are three main benefits to utilizing hot ex- trusion rice fortification: stability, acceptability and flexi- bility. Using this method, the stability of the fortified rice kernels is increased due to the embedding of the nutri- ents into the grains. This means that there is no need to further educate consumers on how to cook these prod- ucts at home without removing the added nutrients. Hot extrusion also ensures that fortified rice maintains the same taste, texture and visual appeal to ensure consum- er acceptance. Hot extrusion rice fortification also offers immense flexi- bility due to the wide range of rice types and added nutri- ents that can be used. There are hundreds of varieties of rice on the market, and most of these can be fortified – in- cluding the most common products such as jasmine rice. This means that manufacturers are able to provide more choice to consumers by offering the nutritionally dense product in a range of rice types. Hot extrusion rice forti-