Status of commercial maize milling industry and flour fortification in Kenya

Abstract

Maize is the most widely consumed staple food by the Kenyan population. Its wide consumption and centralized processing make it an appropriate fortification vehicle to supply essential micronutrients to the population. The legislation was enacted in 2012 that makes it mandatory for all commercial maize mills in Kenya to fortify the maize flour with specified micronutrients as a public health effort to reduce the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies. However, there is limited information on the current status of maize milling and implementation of the flour fortification programme by these mills. A crosssectional study was therefore carried out to characterize the commercial maize mills and determine the status of flour fortification in Kenya. Questionnaires were used to collect data. Information was obtained from 22 large-scale, 25 medium-scale and 31 small-scale mills. These mills had an installed capacity of 6084 metric tons/day of flour using roller and hammer mills. While all the large-scale mills implemented the recommended statutory flour fortification programs, only 45.8% of the medium and 24.1% of small-scale mills did so. There was evidence of weak quality management systems for fortified maize flour and most companies did not have trained mill operators. Regulatory monitoring was mainly done by the Kenya Bureau of Standards and the Ministry of Health. There is a need to enhance industry capacity in food fortification practices and fortification compliance.

Is investing in food small and medium enterprises a viable path to improved nutrition in Sub‐Saharan Africa? A multidisciplinary perspective

“…Recognizing the vital role played by smaller mills which cater to a significant portion of the population, there were subsequent pushes to help SMEs fortify their products, ensuring broader coverage. However, small millers found that the cost of fortification, spread over their relatively small volumes of maize flour, had a significant effect on profitability (Khamila et al, 2019). This example underscores the importance of regulatory incentives in helping tilt investments to meet broader nutrition goals, especially through larger enterprises.…”

Assessment of the policy enabling environment for large-scale food fortification: A novel framework with an application to Kenya

“…Hammer mills use simpler, smaller-scale technology, with many of the smallest hammer mills operating as toll mills (fee-for-service mills) that process grain brought to the mill by customers. There are several reasons why the law targets only packaged products: (1) It would be logistically and technically more demanding to monitor compliance in the country’s numerous hammer mills; (2) the incremental costs of fortification are higher for smaller scale millers, as there are economies of scale in fortification; and (3) size-appropriate fortification technologies (e.g., dosers) are difficult to access [ 31 – 33 ]. Many governments and development partners focus their food fortification initiatives on large firms, which are sometimes delineated as those with a processing capacity of more than 50 metric tons per day [ 6 , 31 , 32 , 34 ].…”

“…There are several reasons why the law targets only packaged products: (1) It would be logistically and technically more demanding to monitor compliance in the country’s numerous hammer mills; (2) the incremental costs of fortification are higher for smaller scale millers, as there are economies of scale in fortification; and (3) size-appropriate fortification technologies (e.g., dosers) are difficult to access [ 31 – 33 ]. Many governments and development partners focus their food fortification initiatives on large firms, which are sometimes delineated as those with a processing capacity of more than 50 metric tons per day [ 6 , 31 , 32 , 34 ]. Nevertheless, the Government of Kenya has expressed an intention to support fortification by small- and medium-scale industries [ 29 ].…”

Quality of Old Bread as a Component for Animal Feed After Thermal Finishing in the Storage Process

“…Indeed, the characterization of the particles has a direct influence on the flowability as well as on the shaping (pelletization, extrusion), as documented by Šklubalová and Zatloukal (2013). The grinding itself is carried out using various mills, the most common being a hammer mill or a mill with rollers (Khamila et al, 2019).…”