PHM-Exch> Shady backgound on Ready to use Food (RUTF)

[Claudio Schuftan]

>
>
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> Printed from
> [image: Right-click here to download pictures. To help protect your
> privacy, Outlook prevented automatic download of this picture from the
> Internet.] <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/>
> *Welfare Inc*
>
> REMA NAGARAJAN TIMES INSIGHT GROUP , TOI Crest 24 October 2009, 12:38pm IST
>
> Conventional wisdom would suggest that malnourished, poverty-stricken
> people living on less than $2 a day can hardly be of interest to the market.
> But conventional wisdom could be wrong. Giant multinational food companies
> are developing products meant to specifically tackle the fallout of
> prolonged hunger, such as micronutrient deficiency and anaemia. Think of any
> big name in food and you can bet it's there in the throng reaching out to
> the starving billions.
>
> But why would Coca-Cola , Pepsi, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), Britannia
> and Danone be keen to sell beverage and food products containing
> micronutrients like vitamin A, zinc and iron at rockbottom prices?
>
> The answer lies in the numbers. Over a billion hungry people globally, and
> more than two billion anaemic. India alone boasts the world's largest
> undernourished population - over 200 million. To the food industry, these
> figures would mean the mantra of 'low margin, high volume sales' of
> fortified products is viable. As a bonus, the company would also be building
> brand value by undertaking the responsibility of helping those in distress.
>
>
> Tying up with NGOs provides the entry point to create impact on the minds
> of rural India. For instance , Coca-Cola is marketing Vitingo, a
> micronutrient fortified orange-flavoured beverage, in partnership with Laxmi
> Priya Enterprises, a sister concern of Bharat Integrated Social Welfare
> Agency (BISWA), a leading NGO micro-finance institution in Orissa, with a
> beneficiary base of over 5,00,000. The pilot project entails Vitingo sachets
> being distributed using self-help groups. Coca-Cola says the effort is aimed
> at building a sustainable, not-forprofit business "wherein we would market
> beverages enriched with micronutrients targeted at the bottom of the socio
> economic pyramid" .
>
> Coke seems upbeat about its prospects after the success of a pilot in
> Sambalpur district of Orissa. Considering micronutrient deficiencies can
> impair cognitive development, lower resistance to disease in children and
> adults, and increase risks for both mothers and infants during childbirth,
> Coke would expect the new initiative to generate both goodwill and sales.
>
> For most corporates, such rural initiatives are also a learning process,
> which helps them understand new markets that are extremely price sensitive
> or culture specific. Pepsi, too, is looking at the NGO route to push a drink
> to be launched next year, which it claims can reduce the incidence of
> anaemia among women in rural India. It is hoping to distribute the drink
> through local health centres.
>
> The poor themselves might not be able to afford even these products despite
> the low pricing, but the companies have an eye on humanitarian agencies and
> government-run health programmes to market them. Bagging a government
> contract could mean immediate sales running into millions.
>
> In recent years, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), a
> private sector coalition, has been using its ties with UNICEF to persuade
> governments to allow more food fortification. The GAIN Business Alliance,
> chaired by Unilever, also helps conduct surveys to help member companies
> assess feeding practices and gauge the market for complementary and
> supplementary food. "Unilever has been working in partnership with GAIN
> since 2005, and has been very actively involved in food fortification
> programmes of GAIN in various countries , including India. As well as its
> strongly-principled stance, Unilever has a vested interest in the health,
> education and success of consumers in all our markets," says a Unilever
> spokesperson.
>
> But public health experts insist that such concerted efforts to combat
> malnutrition are only driven by business interests and lobbies rather than
> any serious attempt at addressing poverty, hunger and poor health. A paper
> published this month in the journal Lancet, titled 'Nutrition in Early
> Life-Global Priority' , warns that the limited funding for combating
> undernutrition is being dominated by programmes for food aid and
> micronutrient supplementation . "Although such programmes have a definite
> role in some circumstances, one would also like to see strong investments in
> community-based approaches - like the promotion of breastfeeding and
> appropriate complementary foods - which have well-established effects on
> child survival and nutritional status," says the paper.
>
> Dr B Sasikeran, director of the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad,
> says, "Obviously, they are not interested in the public good. They are
> commercial entities after all." Whenever the institute has done clinical
> trials to determine the efficacy of micronutrient supplementation, the
> children's group in the trial that was not given the supplement showed
> almost as much improvement as the group getting the supplement. Dr Sesikeran
> explains why this happens: "During a trial, you monitor both groups closely,
> ensuring they get the same kind of balanced diet, that the children undergo
> regular deworming and so on. With balanced food and good healthcare, even
> those without the supplements are bound to do well." Dr Sesikeran adds that
> this only proved that public health/nutrition schemes could show substantial
> results even without supplements if only they were monitored and implemented
> properly.
>
> Essentially, the case made by experts is for the need to build efficient
> public or community-based distribution mechanisms that can deliver
> commodities like oil, fresh vegetables and milk to supplement staple foods.
> "When we talk of food, we talk of rice and wheat, which only takes care of
> hunger. Once we take care of hunger, we have to talk of more oil and green
> vegetables in the diet to take care of micronutrient deficiency ," says
> Umesh Kapil, professor of Public Nutrition at the All India Institute of
> Medical Sciences.
>
> Nutritionists also point out that if there is no food in the stomach to
> provide the base, nutrients are of little use and hence supplements alone
> would not work for the hungry. But international agencies looking for ways
> to tackle undernourishment in large sections of the population are often
> accused of encouraging quick-fix solutions through promotion of fortified
> foods. Dr Neeraj Sethi, senior advisor (health), Planning Commission,
> pointed out at a conference on micronutrient deficiencies that emphasis is
> shifting to fortification and supplementation, ignoring the importance of
> sustainable child feeding practices like exclusive breastfeeding till six
> months, safe drinking water and sanitation , and deworming of children at
> regular intervals.
>
> The arguments are yet to be resolved, but clearly the issue is one that
> will loom over the fate of future generations. After all, the largest
> section of the world's undernourished population is in India and most of
> them are young children.
>
> *( With additional inputs from Rupali Mukherjee and Namrata Singh) *
>
> *THE UNDERBELLY OF THE MARKET *
>
> *Corporate majors are selling a range of fortified products at competitive
> prices or distributing them free of cost *
>
> *COCA-COLA *
>
> launched Vitingo, a micronutrient fortified orange-flavoured beverage in
> Orissa this year, jointly with an NGO micro-finance institution
>
> *PEPSI *
>
> is expected to launch an ultra-cheap soft drink that could cost just Rs 1
> or 2 per serve at the beginning of next year. The drink, it is said, will
> reduce incidence of anaemia among women in rural India
>
> *HINDUSTAN UNILEVER *
>
> has launched Brooke Bond Sehatmand in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, a tea brand
> expected to fulfill vitamin needs in the lower strata of society. It claims
> three cups of the tea guarantee delivery of 50 per cent of the recommended
> dietary allowance of added B Vitamins required by a person
>
> *DANONE *
>
> launched Shaktidoi, sweet curd fortified with iron and vitamins, in 2006 in
> partnership with Grameen in Bangladesh, selling it at five to seven taka per
> pot
>
> *BRITANNIA *
>
> started working with an NGO to distribute fortified biscuits - Tiger with
> Iron-Zor - free of cost to children living in slums in Haryana. Its projects
> are primarily aimed at tackling iron deficiency in towns and rural areas.
> The iron-fortified biscuits are also sold elsewhere in the country
>
> *ECONOCOM FOODS *
>
> sells Epap, a pre-cooked maize-based food, highly fortified with 28
> nutrients, developed to address Africa's food and nutrition problem
>
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