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Maximum potential coverage of fortified food

The percentage of a country’s population consuming (a) the food vehicle, (b) the food vehicle that is industrially processed, and (c) the food vehicle that is both industrially processed and fortified.

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Interpretation

To assess whether coverage of a fortified food is optimal, contextual information on the total opportunity of fortified food in a population is required. For example, a country may have data indicating that 50% of the population is using/consuming the fortified food. At first glance, it may seem like fortification is unsuccessful because 50% of the population is not consuming the fortified food. However, to interpret this information fully requires answering two key questions:

  1. What proportion of the population actually uses/consumes that food?
    • For example, if 50% of the population doesn’t consume the food as a typical staple (whether fortified or not), then reaching 50% of the population means that fortification is reaching everyone that it can. To reach more people, other foods will need to be fortified.
  2. What proportion of the population uses/consumes industrially processed versions of that food? Coverage of industrially processed food represents the maximum potential fortification of that food since non-industrially processed foods may be more difficult to implement.
    • For example, if there is 50% coverage of the fortified food but we know that coverage of the industrially processed food is 75%, this indicates that 25% of the population is not being reached through fortification.
    • Conversely, if 90% of the population consume the food but coverage for the industrially processed food is only 10%, then achieving 9% fortification coverage is nearly optimal since the maximum potential coverage was 10% to begin with.
Indicator and term descriptions

Maximum potential coverage of fortified food: The proportion of the population (typically measured via household surveys) that report consuming the food vehicle, foods made with that food vehicle, preparing foods with the food vehicle at home, or have the food vehicle in the household on the day of the survey, regardless of whether the food vehicle is fortified or industrially processed.The average amount of the food vehicle in question that is eaten in grams, per capita, per day.

Additional information about this indicator
How to download data

Follow these steps to download data from the visualization as an Excel or CSV file:

  • Click on the “Data” tab at the bottom of the visualization window.
  • Hover over the header row of the table until an ellipses (three dots […]) appears.
  • Click on “more options” and a drop-down menu will appear. Select “Export data.”
  • In the new window, select the export format that best supports your needs and click the “Export” button.
Considerations

Where countries may not have complete coverage data, it is not possible to provide the full context for the coverage of a fortified food in the population.

Methodology

GFDx populates its database through a bi-annual survey, aiming to reach 196 countries. In between survey cycles, the GFDx database is updated when new information is received directly from fortification partners and/or national stakeholders. To share data for your country, please contact us at at info@fortificationdata.org.

For more information about GFDx methodology and indicators: GFDx Data Dictionary.

Data sources
  • The source is the author, name and publication information of the country-specific document.
  • Country classifications of income status and geographic region are from the World Bank and the United Nations, respectively.
Suggested citation

Global Fortification Data Exchange. Chart: Maximum potential coverage of fortified food. Accessed dd/month/yyyy. [http://www.fortificationdata.org.]