Ajinomoto to Launch Social Business to Improve Nutrition in Ghana

Copyright Ajinomoto Co.

Ajinomoto Co., a globally recognized food product manufacturer based in Japan, announced on November 8, 2010, that the company started developing a social business to improve nutrition in Ghana in collaboration with two international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), CARE International Japan, and the Japan Foster Plan Foundation.

Koko, a fermented maize porridge traditionally fed as weaning food in Ghana, is the main cause of delayed growth in weaning children there, because it lacks sufficient energy, protein, and micronutrients. Having already conducted experiments in developing countries since 1995 to demonstrate that nutrition, the immune system, and general health condition can be improved with fortified food containing lysine (the scarcest essential amino acid in cereal protein), Ajinomoto aims in this project to develop and promote engineered food to be used as an additive in Koko.

While partnering with NGOs that have been working to improve incomes, education, self-reliance, health and sanitation, and the environment within poor communities in Ghana, Ajinomoto plans to assess distribution methods and the receptivity of their products, offer nutritional education, and measure the effects of their efforts in the areas where those NGOs are active. The company also plans to consider replicating the project in other countries of West Africa with the hope of contributing to the UN Millennium Development Goals by alleviating nutritional problems for children in poor areas.

Ajinomoto to Recycle Empty Fruit Bunch for Seasonal Gift Packaging (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/029680.html
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Posted: 2011/02/10 06:00:15 AM