AS part of efforts to tackle hunger, malnutrition and non-communicable diseases in the country, the Federal Institute of Industrial Research (FIIRO) Oshodi, Lagos, has developed special cereal-based diets fortified with micronutrients for the school meal programme and treatment of malnutrition, diabetes and heart diseases. Micronutrients are nutrients required by humans and other living things throughout life in small quantities to orchestrate a whole range of physiological functions, but which the organism itself cannot produce. For people, they include dietary trace minerals in amounts generally less than 100 milligrams/day - as opposed to macrominerals (fats, carbohydrates and protein), which are required in larger quantities. The microminerals or trace elements include at least iron, cobalt, chromium, copper, iodine, manganese, selenium, zinc and molybdenum. Micronutrients also include vitamins, which are organic compounds required as nutrients in tiny amounts by an organism. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), iodine, vitamin A and iron are most important in global public health terms, their lack represents a major threat to the health and development of populations the world over, particularly children and pregnant women in low-income countries. The institute said that it had not been able to further develop the pilots because of funds constraint, even she urged state governments and the private sector to come and partner with FIIRO so that more Nigerians would benefit from the novel discoveries. Director General of FIIRO, Dr. Gloria Nwakaegho Elemo, in an exclusive interview with The Guardian said: “We have developed a nutritious cake and drink which meet the recommended daily dietary allowance for children between the ages of five and 12 that are in primary school. This is supposed to handle the ongoing school meal programme in a hygienic form. The next step is to get the state governments to buy into it. We have a standard recipe for Nigeria so different people can now come in as entrepreneur using the standard recipe to produce this cake and drink for school children. “So we have developed this ready to eat therapeutic diet for the management of malnutrition. We have looked into developing readily therapeutic diets for non-communicable diseases like diabetes, coronary heart disease and hypertension. So we have developed drinks for the management of hyperglycaemia (high blood sugar), for diabetes mellitus with high fibre diet and cereals for the elderly to prevent digestive diseases.” Elemo, who is also a nutritionist, added: “The problem we are having is that they are at pilot stage and these things will need money. What we do is that when we develop, the next thing is to transfer out. Why we have not been so visible is because of funds. We are not having adequate funding so we try as much as possible to look for external funds. But one thing we know is that we do not expect other people to come and develop these for us, we must do it ourselves. “We are supposed to commercially produce these products. What we are supposed to do is to transfer what we have out there through nutrition model plan so that people can come and buy into it. We hope to get our technologies advertised.” On the composition of the special diets, the FIIRO boss said: “The cake and snacks for our school meal programme are made with cereals like sorghum and millet, and fortified with micronutrients in right proportion. But it is still at the pilot stage. We are ready, people can take it up and develop it further. Elemo said that FIIRO had mandate to develop food and agricultural products and had worked extensively into the area of agro products development into various products either as new products or the development of indigenous ones to make them more acceptable and nutritious. She said that they had also made advances into instant pounded yam flour production, cassava starch, production of fruit juices, palm wine bottling and preservation, cassava processing and edible mushroom production. She explained: “All the different sectors of agro products have actually been touched. We have worked extensively on roots and tubers, cereals, fruits and vegetables. We go into fabrication, design of equipment, bring out prototype equipment of the process line that have been developed to make it more acceptable technology and at affordable prices for local fabricators to buy into it. This definitely apart from solving the problem of food and nutrition security will also be solving the problem of wealth creation and job opportunity. “We have the broad mandate of accelerating industrialisation in Nigeria and has over the years developed technologies that have promoted the ideals of entrepreneurship development. We have locally sourced alternative raw materials for our industries, thereby conserving foreign exchange, through adequate food processing techniques we have improved the nutritional content of our food intake and we have locally fabricated machines, equipment and many more.” The nutritionist said that the problem facing the country was that of management of its agro-processes. Elemo said that the government was doing a lot in food production but there was a missing link between production and end consumer on the areas of processing and preservation and FIIRO has the mandate to go into that. By Chukwuma Muanya