2001 AACC Annual Meeting Charlotte, North Carolina October 14-18, 2001 Charlotte Convention Center

There is a paradox. Small amounts of essential vitamins (vitamin A and folic acid) and minerals (iodine, iron and zinc) are required by the human body for normal healthy growth and development. Yet, more than half the world's population does not consume enough of these nutrients. Micronutrient deficiencies impair intelligence, reduces strength and energy sapping much needed vitality, productivity and initiative from economic development. Adding a premix of these essential minerals and vitamins to flour is a well-known, inexpensive technology. If the dynamics of market economies in developing countries responded perfectly to the needs of consumers, then private investment would have already capitalized on this overwhelming opportunity. However, micronutrient malnutrition is a "hidden hunger." With low awareness of the threat there is little consumer demand for the solution. Accelerating the implementation of food fortification in countries around the world requires "priming the pump" to initiate a collaboration among governments, industry and other sectors such as research institutions, academia and civil society. Of all these parties, those who produce and sell flour are the most important in the endeavor. A major global public health contribution, on a scale that compares well will clean water or the elimination of smallpox, could be the adoption of Universal Flour Fortification.