School milk and food safety in Guatemala

Building on experiences from the development of NutriSip (a highly fortified drink for school feeding) in South Africa and Nigeria, Tetra Pak partnered with INCAP - the Nutritional Institute for Central America and Panama - and developed a ready to drink UHT version of their Incaparina nutritional cereal beverage powder (of maize and soy proteins fortified with iron, minerals and vitamins). INCAP is a cooperation between regional Ministries of Health and is the regional office of the World Health Organization. Incaparina was originally developed in powder form. The ready to drink (RTD) fortified version offers a safe, easily distributed version for rural areas facing challenges due to sub-standard hygiene and lack of potable water and while providing consumption control. This is also an area that in the past have been severely damaged by hurricanes, when the lack of potable water was critical.

The product has now been launched in Guatemala targeting children, lactating mothers and the elderly. Discussions have been initiated with different development agencies regarding funding of school feeding programmes using the RTD Incaparina.

For more information please contact our Food for development office