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Brands were recognized at the KMFI Awards for leading the way in improving the nutritional quality of their products
CS, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Rebecca
Miano and other Government officials from Miinistry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture and KEBS joined milling industry leaders and other stakeholders to launch Millers for Nutrition, a new milling industry-led coalition which aims to
ensure that more Kenyans can access safe, nutritious food to live healthier and more productive lives.
Also announced at the same event were this year’s winners of the Kenya Millers
Fortification Index (KMFI) Awards, which recognize local food brands that are
leading the way in improving the nutritional quality of their products.
As Kenya faces a dual threat of malnutritionand food safety due to Aflatoxin,
ensuring the supply of safe, high-quality nutritious food is vital to the nation’s
health and economic development. By adding essential micronutrients to the
widely consumed foods they produce, millers (the businesses responsible for
processing dietary staples like wheat, maize flour and cooking oil) play an
important role in reducing malnutrition and improving public health. Millers for
Nutrition has been established in Kenya to encourage, enable and celebrate this
vital work.
Millers who join Millers for Nutrition and commit to improving the nutritional quality
of their food will receive free technical support to make it easier to fortify their
products. This includes access to tailored technical training and business advice,
product testing support and online tools and resources, which will also help
millers to reduce their compliance risk and enhance production efficiency.
A key component of the Millers for Nutrition Initiative, is the Kenya Millers Fortification Index (KMFI), an industry self-regulatory tool which allows for millers to assess their performance based on set quality benchmarks. Millers
participating in the KMFI are ranked based on their self-assessment, industry expert group and product testing results.
Since the KMFI was launched in 2022, the index now features 20 companies representing 88 brands spanning the wheat and maize flour industry. The tight competition included not only assessed fortification compliance but also internal operations of the company
In Kenya, Millers for Nutrition is collaborating closely with the Cereal Millers
Association (CMA), which represents approximately 40% of maize millers and over
90% of wheat millers, to provide technical trainings to members and to scale up
the KMFI awards. Millers for Nutrition is also working with the United Grain Millers
Association (UGMA) and the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) to help
bridge industry knowledge gaps in food fortification.
Millers for Nutrition is also supporting national nutrition priorities and the country’s
food fortification strategy, including working with the Ministry of Health to help improve premix quality standards and supplier regulation. Additionally, Millers for Nutrition is collaborating with the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) to enhance lab testing approaches through a regional inter-laboratory exercise. With the recent discussions on rice fortification, Millers for Nutrition is contributing in
formulation of rice fortification standards.
Millers of wheat / maize flour and edible oil can find out more information on Millers for Nutrition in Kenya and how to become a member at:
