Strategies for nutritional enhancement of foods

 There is no single approach to the improvement of the nutritional quality of plant foods since this is affected by a wide variety of factors. Amongst these are:

• A reduction in the content of anti-nutritional factors.
•  The use of genetic modification to introduce new traits in plants.
•  Improvements in handling, storage and food processing technologies
• The application of traditional breeding methods to select for varieties with an increase level of the bioactive compound

 The following section will specifically deal with food processing and its effect on the nutritional value of foods.

Food processing is the set of methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients into food for consumption by humans. The food processing industry utilizes these processes. Food processing often takes clean, harvested components and uses these to produce attractive and marketable food products.

Benefits of food processing includes toxin removal, preservation, improving flavor, easing marketing and distribution tasks, and increasing food consistency. In addition, it increases seasonal availability of many foods, enables transportation of delicate perishable foods across long distances, and makes many kinds of foodstuffs safe to eat by removing the microorganisms. Food processing can also add extra nutrients through fortification.

Negative impacts: Food processing frequently lowers nutritional value, and sometimes toxic chemicals are added or created in the food during processing such as aromatic hydrocarbons. Some techniques alter food flavor negatively. In addition, high quality and hygiene standards must be maintained to ensure consumer safety and not all food processors comply with these standards.

WFP's processed food is

• Safe
• Well packaged
• Easy to transport and to store
• Cost-effective / Affordable
• Versatile
• Making the targeting easy
• Practical, easy to prepare, enabling fuel savings
• Culturally acceptable
• Legally authorized
• Nutritious
• And in accordance with the Codex Alimentarius, National Regulations and WFP specifications.