Jan 30 2012--- BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany, and Teck Resources Limited, Vancouver, Canada, announced at the World Economic Forum that they have signed a three year agreement to jointly develop innovative and affordable zinc fortification and supplementation solutions, with the goal of reducing zinc deficiency among 100 million people in developing countries by 2015.

 

Malnutrition is one of the world’s most serious but least addressed health problems – nearly a third of children in developing countries are undernourished. Zinc is an essential micronutrient for all living organisms that protects the body from illnesses and helps fight infections, yet two billion people around the world are not getting enough zinc through their diet. According to the World Health Organization, zinc deficiency is one of the leading risk factors associated with diseases such as diarrhea, contributing to the deaths of 800,000 people each year.

 

Speaking to FoodIngredientsFirst Sonja Morweiser, Senior Manager for Corporate Media Relations at BASF, discussed how the scheme will function: “The formulations will be brought to local producers of stable foods, such as flour, sugar. These producers will also be taught the technical knowledge they need to distribute zinc within the population.

 

“The formulations will only be brought to populations in countries where the ministries of health and international organizations like the UN support zinc fortifications for public health reasons. A regional focus will be set on Africa and Southeast Asia.”

 

Through this agreement, BASF and Teck aim to make safe and cost-effective high-quality zinc solutions available to populations at risk of zinc deficiency in developing countries. Zinc from Teck’s Trail Operations will be turned into high grade zinc oxide by GH Chemicals in Montreal, Canada, which BASF will use to make food fortification supplements.

 

“Providing healthy food and nutrition to a growing world population is one of the major challenges of the future. Together with its customers and partners such as Teck, BASF contributes to the development of innovative, sustainable solutions,” said Kurt Bock, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE.

 

The partnership will run till 2015 and will harness the strengths and competencies of each company, including BASF’s cost-effective micronutrient solutions, analytical and formulation expertise, application and quality control know-how and distribution partnerships, and Teck’s high-quality, affordable zinc products and commitment to raise awareness about and find solutions to zinc deficiency. The agreement builds on Teck’s existing Zinc and Health program which includes partnerships with UNICEF, Free the Children, the Micronutrient Initiative of the Government of Canada and other organizations.

 

“We welcome that BASF and Teck are combining their respective expertise to work together to help to alleviate one source of malnutrition,” said George Kell, Head of the United Nations Global Compact. This partnership forms part of the “Scaling-up Nutrition” (SUN) process, aims to help the United Nations in its efforts to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals, particularly the goal to half poverty and hunger by 2015, and in contributing to the realization of the Human Right to Food. “We need to break the links between poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition. This requires the full engagement of many sectors and actors, including the private sector,” said UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon.

 

The collaboration forms part of the United Nations Global Compact, aiming to demonstrate leadership in UN-Business partnerships. It will be guided by the “fundamentals of Effective UN-Business Partnerships” as developed by the Global Compact LEAD.

 

“Provided that there is a successful development of new zinc compound applications and a fruitful cooperation, the partners will discuss an extension of the initiative and continue the cooperation” said Morweiser.