PHC is pleased to announce the completion of a quality assurance and quality control laboratory at SOSOMA Industries, a local fortified supplementary food producer, in Rwanda. With the support from an Izumi Foundation grant, PHC is providing technical assistance and financial support to improve the safety and nutritional quality of their products.
SOSOMA Industries is currently the only facility in Rwanda fortifying products and the sole supplier of fortified supplementary food for the Government of Rwanda’s Fight Against Malnutrition Emergency Plan, a national plan that ensures moderately malnourished children throughout the country receive SOSOMA’s products. Prior to the construction of the PHC-Izumi supported laboratory, the facility had limited means to test the safety or the nutritional quality of the products.
PHC’s overarching goal is to improve the quality and increase the quantity of fortified supplementary food produced by SOSOMA in order to improve the nutritional status of up to 50,000 malnourished children in Rwanda. Learning will be captured and disseminated in order to support the rapid implementation of national fortification policies in Rwanda and serve as a model, which can be replicated in other industries and countries attempting to scale-up for fortification. In order to achieve this, PHC is providing technical assistance and support around four key areas:
- Construction of a quality assurance and control laboratory;
- Staff training on use of the laboratory and internationally recognized laboratory standards including Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), Good Hygienic Practices, Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP), and the handling and testing of vitamin and mineral premix;
- Adoption of a new premix formulation for SOSOMA supplementary products to ensure the caloric and micronutrient needs of the target population are met. Although the caloric value of SOSOMA products is sufficient, the levels of vitamins and minerals, including calcium, iron, thiamine, phosphorus, zinc and niacin, should be increased to achieve more substantial improvements in the nutritional status of the targeted population; and
- Technical assistance in the transition from manual to mechanized processes to increase quality production.
With the completion of the first key support area, SOSOMA management will partner with a local university to ensure staff are trained on appropriate, internationally recognized laboratory standards. This will take place in August 2011 while PHC provides technical assistance on the adoption of a new premix formulation to ensure the adequate delivery of critical micronutrients needed to improve the nutritional status of malnourished children throughout Rwanda.
SOSOMA’s production manager pointed to “the completion of the laboratory as an important step towards improving the quality of [SOSOMA] flours and a last corner before they start fortifying all their products.”