United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service Overview of USDA Nutrition and Quality Improvement Efforts Roger P. Mireles Assistant Deputy Administrator Office of Capacity Building and Development Foreign Agricultural Service/USDA June 28, 2011

United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service GAO Report Foreign Assistance: Multiple Challenges Hinder the Efficiency and Effectiveness of U.S. Food Aid (2007) SUSTAIN Food Aid Quality Project (2008) GAO Report International Food Assistance: A U.S. Government wide Strategy Could Accelerate Progress toward Global Food Security (2009) GAO Report Better Nutrition and Quality Control Can Further Improve U.S. Food Aid (2011) Tufts UniversityFood Aid Quality Review: Delivering Improved Nutrition (2011) Recent studies on the efficiency and effectiveness of U.S. food aid

United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service In FY 2010, $14 M allocated to develop more nutritious and micornutrient-fortified food aid products –Food Aid Nutritional Education Program ($3.8 M) –Micronutrient-Fortified Food Aid Products Pilot ($10 M) Focus on Micronutrients

United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service Food Aid Nutritional Education Program Supports the development and field testing of new ready-to- use foods fortified blended foods high-energy foods micronutrient powders Johns Hopkins University received a $2.7 M grant to address childhood stunting and severe wasting in Bangladesh PATH was awarded a $1 M grant in Burundi to help in the development of iron-fortified Ultra Rice

United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service Micronutrient-Fortified Food Aid Products Pilot Aimed at development and field testing of new or improved micronutrient-fortified food aid products Identify new products that could be provided through McGovern- Dole programs globally First award $1.5 M to IPHD to test new micronutrient-rich ready-to-use supplementary food

United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service USG reviewing whether additional tests for mycotoxins are needed for food aid products Testing for Mycotoxins in Food Aid Commodities How? –USDA has been soliciting input from the commercial sector to have a better understanding of the presence of mycotoxins in food products and the practicality of testing Why? –4.5 billion people in are chronically exposed to dangerous levels of aflatoxin –recognize the importance of food aid quality and safety in humanitarian assistance

United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service U.S. committed $12 million to support the Partnership on Aflatoxin Control in Africa (PACA) U.S. Supports Aflatoxin Control Efforts The PACA is committed to a holistic approach to aflatoxin control USDA is collaborating closely with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Links with country-driven priorities to help sustainably transform agricultural systems

United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service Currently rely solely on the quality control systems of blended/fortified product vendors Only Corn Soy Blend and Wheat Soy Blend have mandatory USG sampling and testing USDA in the process of moving toward sampling and testing on all other blended/fortified commodities Improvements to the Testing and Sampling of Commodities

United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service New Commodity Procurement Guidelines USDA is transitioning from sealed bid procurement to negotiated procurement through Requests for Proposals (RFP) Allows for the use of technical evaluation factors such as past performance, quality control and price when making contract award decisions FSA currently has two RFPs issued covering Corn Soy Blend and Corn Soy Blend Plus, and Emergency Food Products USDA received responses to both RFPs and is evaluating these proposals

United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service 2009 – Vegetable oil specifications changed to enhance the closure and durability of cans 2011 – Increased utilization of “best if used by dates” Packaging Improvements

United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service Thank you…