Refugee rations, particularly those in Africa, are essentially made up of cereals, legumes, oil and a small quantity of sugar. On such a diet, numerous deficiency diseases including scurvy, pellagra and beri-beri have been reported. This paper argues that one possible strategy to alleviate these problems is food fortification. Food fortification may be defined as 'a process whereby one or more nutrients are added to foods to maintain or improve the quality of the diet'. Using a case study from Malawi, it is argued that fortification of maize meal is technically feasible. Whilst fortification must not be considered as a universal panacea, it is likely to play an important role in the short term in alleviating nutritional deficiencies amongst refugees. © 1992 Oxford University Press.

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food fortification maize meal nutrition Refugees Malawi