Food Aid Quality Review Phase III: Technical Report No. 3

The report covers the period from July 2016 to September 2016 and is the third phase of the Food Aid Quality Review (FAQR) initiative. The FAQR Phase III focuses on generating links between research on food product formulation and recommendations on cost-effective programming and policy-level action among national and multilateral institutions engaged in food assistance. The phase has eight priority areas, including researching the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of new food products, studying improved packaging and delivery approaches, and organizing consultative and expert meetings. The report highlights the framework for FAQR III, which focuses on three main areas: products, programming, and processes. In the products area, Tufts is examining mission-critical issues such as how food matrices affect bioavailability of nutrients and digestibility of products. The team is also exploring potential roles for existing products that are rarely used today, as well as new products and novel packaging technologies. In the programming area, Tufts is focusing on program cost-effectiveness of various intervention designs, including strategy development for pre-positioned special nutrition products and guidance on options for deployment of specialized products. The team is also generating improved technical guidance and sharing details on research protocols used in testing new food aid products in the field. The processes area of FAQR III provides recommendations on institutional and industry processes for capacity building, including the institutionalization and strengthening of interagency technical collaborations and mechanisms to ensure greater policy and product harmonization. The report also highlights the importance of promoting food safety and quality standards that can be applied to local and regional food procurement. During the quarter, the FAQR team undertook several activities related to examining the evidence on how the composition and structure of food products influence the bioavailability, absorption, and physiological utilization of nutrients. The team reviewed the Food Matrices concept note and next steps with senior FAQR team members, completed a key word list and outline for the literature review, and gathered information on conducting in vitro and in vivo bioavailability studies on minerals and vitamins in food aid products. The team also generated the protocol for conducting Bostwick flow measurements of all products currently being tested in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone. Additionally, the FAQR team drafted a proposal for a symposium for the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) 2017 to discuss outputs of the FAQR Food Matrices activities. The symposium would focus on diet, nutrition, and health, and technologies that would help preparing the roadmap for producing food aid products with a better nutritional profile vis-a-vis bioavailability to address the needs of vulnerable populations. The FAQR team also worked on the food aid basket, which includes activities such as enhancing the food basket with existing commodities, assessing new products, exploring dual-use products for emergency response, and developing a strategy to introduce new specialized products. The team is also planning to conduct accelerated shelf life trials for fortified rice and high-energy biscuits.