VITAMIN A FORTIFIed PEANUT BUTTER - The Official Website of ...

INTRODUCTION
Vitamin A deficiency is one of the leading causes of child and adult blindness in the Philippines.
To alleviate this problem, vitamin A fortification of foods that is widely consumed by the population has
been adapted as one of the strategies in the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition. Vitamin A
fortification has been recognized worldwide as a means to eliminate the problem of this micronutrient
deficiency.
Peanut butter has long been considered a health food because it contains protein, fiber, niacin,
zinc, vitamin E and folic acid. It is also a widely consumed product by the low income segment of the
population. Thus, peanut butter is considered a good vehicle for vitamin A fortification.
A process for the vitamin A fortification of peanut butter has been developed by a large company
tapped to be one of the industry collaborators for this project. Result of the preliminary verification of the
fortification process developed by the collaborator however, showed that the vitamin A added was not
uniformly dispersed in the peanut butter matrix. Vitamin A recovery was noted to be highest in the area
where the vitamin A fortificant was added. Since vitamin A is toxic when taken over the recommended
levels, it is important that the vitamin added should be uniformly dispersed within a production batch.
Uniform dispersion of the added vitamin A fortificant is necessary to ensure that the entire production
batch meets the target fortification level of at least 1/3 of the Recommended Energy and Nutrition Intake
(RENI). The fortification process of the collaborator involved a one-time addition of the vitamin A
fortificant in a stainless steel vessel prior to the 2 nd grinding step in a colloid mill.
OBJECTIVES
The general objective of the project was to transfer a technology for the vitamin A fortification of
peanut butter to a large-scale company. The specific objective of the studies under this project was to
improve vitamin A recovery to acceptable levels and to uniformly disperse the vitamin A added in the
peanut butter matrix.
METHODS
The project was undertaken in two phases as follows: (1) Preliminary activities for technology
transfer and (2) Standardization of the process at the collaborator's plant.
Preliminary Activities for Technology Transfer
A plant visit and a seminar on Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) were conducted at the
collaborator's plant as preliminary activities for the technology transfer of vitamin A fortification of
peanut butter. The objective of the plant visit was to assess adequacy of available facilities and suitability
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