National Industrial Fortification in Uganda

At the national level, SPRING/Uganda supports the Government of Uganda to coordinate the implementation of industrial fortification efforts. SPRING/Uganda has revitalized the National Working Group on Food Fortification (NWGFF) and supports NWGFF meetings and activities. SPRING/Uganda also supports trainings to build capacity of the staff from various departments in quality control for food fortification, monitoring, and evaluation, all in support of effective implementation of Uganda’s mandatory fortification regulation that came into effect 1 July 2013. Departments sending trainees include the Ministry of Health, Uganda National Bureau of Standards, National Medical Stores, Uganda Revenue Authority, Ministry of Agriculture, Local Government food inspectors, and Commercial Food Processors. Trainings include how to implement qualitative and quantitative laboratory testing of samples of fortified foods to assess their nutrient content at the factory level. In addition, factories will be trained in establishing Good Manufacturing Practices related to fortification, as well as in designing and implementing fortification program monitoring tools including fortificant log books for tracking the purchases and utilization of fortificant and documentation systems for tracking the testing frequency and results of laboratory analyses of food samples.