Fortifying Bangladesh’s future through wheat flour: A hidden opportunity for better nutrition

In Bangladesh, wheat flour has quietly become a staple of urban and semi-urban diets.

From household breakfasts to commercial breads, biscuits, and noodles, demand for wheat flour has soared alongside rapid urbanisation, changing food habits, and the expansion of food industries.

Yet as wheat flour takes centre stage in daily consumption, it presents a largely untapped opportunity — to combat micronutrient deficiencies through fortification.

A hidden hunger crisis

Micronutrient deficiencies, or hidden hunger, remain among Bangladesh's most persistent public-health challenges. According to the National Micronutrient Survey 2019–20, more than 40% of women of reproductive age suffer from iron deficiency, while vitamin A deficiency continues to affect large numbers of children and women despite decades of supplementation programmes.

The cost is immense: reduced productivity, impaired cognitive development, and higher maternal and child mortality rates.

Wheat flour fortification — the addition of essential vitamins and minerals such as iron, folic acid, zinc, vitamin A, calcium, and the vitamin-B complex during or after milling — is a proven, low-cost, high-impact intervention. The World Health Organization (WHO) identifies flour fortification as one of the most effective strategies for reducing anaemia and neural-tube defects, particularly in countries with rising wheat consumption.

Bangladesh's emerging flour market

Bangladesh consumes nearly 7 million tonnes of wheat a year, around 60–70% of which is processed into flour. The flour-milling sector is modernising rapidly, with more than 250 commercial roller mills and thousands of semi-automatic and traditional mills supplying both industrial and household consumers.

Flour is also a core input for Bangladesh's expanding bakery, biscuit, and instant-noodle industries — powerful channels through which fortified foods could reach millions. This combination of demand and capacity makes the flour sector an ideal platform to mainstream fortification.

Policy and progress

The government has taken notable steps. The Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) has already issued standards recommending fortification of flour with ten micronutrients, aligned with global guidelines. Both the National Micronutrient Fortification Strategy and the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) recognise flour fortification as a key national nutrition measure.

However, fortification remains voluntary. Moving towards mandatory fortification, as more than 90 countries, including Australia, Canada, Indonesia, and Kenya, have done, would multiply public-health impact. Government procurement programmes — such as school feeding or social-safety-net initiatives — could also prioritise fortified flour to accelerate adoption.

A business case with social impact

Beyond the health dividend, fortification makes business sense. As consumers become more health-conscious, fortified flour allows millers and food brands to differentiate themselves, strengthen brand trust, and tap into the demand for nutritious food.

Fortified flour can command a premium in retail markets and build stronger partnerships with institutional buyers — from NGOs and schools to bakeries and large food processors. Development partners are increasingly backing public–private partnerships that help local millers to modernise production lines, improve quality assurance, and introduce digital traceability.

Technology and innovation: the next frontier

New technologies are making fortification simpler and more precise. Automated micro-dosing systems now ensure accurate mixing of micronutrient premix into flour. Internet-of-Things monitoring and cloud-based data systems — already being piloted in Bangladesh — are improving accountability and compliance with food safety standards.

Fortification also aligns closely with the Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), and SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production). Linking to these agendas can attract international funding and export opportunities.

Catalysts of change: Millers for Nutrition and TechnoServe

Momentum for wheat-flour fortification in Bangladesh has grown through industry collaboration and technical assistance from Millers for Nutrition (powered by TechnoServe). Launched in 2024, the global coalition works with millers to fortify wheat flour, rice and edible oil with essential micronutrients.

With TechnoServe's technical support, ACI Foods launched ACI Pure Power Fortified Atta in February 2025 — Bangladesh's first large-scale branded fortified flour. IFAD Multi Products Ltd followed in late 2024 with its own fortified atta, marking another milestone.

The consumer-packed fortified-flour market is now about 300 tonnes per month, and is growing rapidly as major conglomerates prepare new launches. While fortified flour still represents a small fraction of Bangladesh's estimated 4 million-tonne annual flour market, the foundation for nationwide scale-up has been laid.

The way forward

The potential is immense. To unlock it, policymakers must establish a mandatory fortification framework; development partners should strengthen technical and market capacity; and private millers must view fortification not as a cost, but as an investment in the nation's health.

If even half of Bangladesh's flour were fortified, the country could prevent hundreds of thousands of anaemia cases, save millions in healthcare costs, and build a healthier, more productive workforce.

Ultimately, wheat-flour fortification is more than a nutrition policy — it is a moral, economic, and technological imperative to secure a stronger, healthier Bangladesh.