Quentin is a consultant in the business of fortification of staple foods like wheat flour and vegetable oil with micronutrients such as folic acid and Vitamin A. This is routinely done in developed countries, but not in the third world, where the lack of these essential nutrients leads to birth defects, learning disabilities, serious illnesses and premature deaths. Including Quentin, there is a small team of consultants worldwide who have been working on this and over the past 10 years, and thanks to their efforts, over half a billion people now have access to fortified foods in 20 countries, a considerable achievement.

It is the goal of the Flour Fortification Initiative (FFI), an international network of private sector industry, public sector and civic sectors promoting flour fortification worldwide, that 70% of the world's population will have access to fortified food by the end of 2008. This will be achieved when China comes on board. Quentin has recently been made the Coordinator of the Technical Training and Support Group of this organization.

There are several steps in the process of bringing flour fortification to a country:

• the development of national strategies and action plans,

• the preparation of proposals for funding,

• advocacy: demonstrating the public health and economic benefits at senior levels of the Ministry of Health and other government departments in the country,

• dissemination of information with the millers and food producers using flour,

• technical training of the millers themselves (both sophisticated large mills and small scale mills in rural areas),

• development of social marketing programmes to promote the benefits of fortified foods within the population,

• and designing the systems to ensure the long term sustainability of the program.

Quentin is uniquely skilled in all these levels, able to write a proposal, to deliver the presentation, to liaise with all levels of government up to the ministers, to roll up his shirt sleeves and to solve technical problems at the production level. He is also able to perform in both English and French.

In ten years, Quentin has visited more than  60 countries on the business of staple food fortification, and the list continues to grow.

Every story of fortification is a success story, but the cumulative effect is a significant one. Since 1996, as a member of a team of ten consultants worldwide, Quentin has helped make fortified wheat and maize flour available to more than half a billion people in 22 countries.

Quentin’s clients are mainly UN agencies including:

• UNICEF 

• WHO (World Health Organization) 

• WFP (World Food Programme) 

• The World Bank

• ADC (Asian Development Bank)

And international NGOs including:

• CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency)

• CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

• Emory University

• GAIN (the Global Alliance on Improved Nutrition) 

• Helen Keller International 

• Micronutrient Initiative

• Smarter Futures

• World Vision 

In addition to serving these agencies, Quentin is the Coordinator of the Technical Training and Support Group of the Flour Fortification Initiative (FFI), an international network of private sector industry, public sector and civic sectors promoting flour fortification worldwide.

Please visit the Flour Fortification Initiative (FFI) site for recent updates.