Hexagon launches stable vitamin A fortification ingredient

Hexagon Nutrition has launched VIT A+, a stabilised vitamin A palmitate formulation developed for large-scale food fortification across Africa following commercial-scale manufacturing validation in India.

The ingredient was developed by Particles for Humanity under the name PFH-VAP before manufacturing was transferred to Hexagon. It is intended for staple and widely consumed foods including bouillon, wheat flour, and sugar, with the formulation designed to improve vitamin A stability during storage, distribution, and cooking.

Commercialisation follows completion of a manufacturing transfer earlier in September. Hexagon carried out commercial-scale process validation in India after production was transferred from the LIS by Lesaffre site in France, demonstrating that the formulation could be produced repeatedly at commercial scale while maintaining the key product characteristics established during development.

Each commercial-scale batch is reported to produce enough VIT A+ to fortify approximately 600 million servings of food. The figure illustrates the production scale reached by the project, although the number of consumers ultimately reached will depend on fortification levels, food volumes, national programmes, and adoption by individual manufacturers.

The production proposition is based partly on compatibility with existing fortification operations. VIT A+ is intended for food manufacturers already adding micronutrients to products such as flour, sugar, and bouillon, avoiding the need to create an entirely separate processing stage solely for the new vitamin A formulation.

That is important because large-scale fortification depends on adding comparatively small quantities of micronutrients consistently into much larger food streams. Millers and other processors still need to control dosing, mixing, homogeneity, ingredient handling, and finished-product nutrient levels, even where the fortificant itself can enter an established process.

The technical problem addressed by VIT A+ appears later in the chain. Vitamin A can degrade during storage, distribution, and cooking, particularly under the heat and humidity encountered in many low and middle-income markets. An ingredient can therefore leave the factory at the intended concentration but deliver less vitamin A by the time the food is consumed.

Particles for Humanity developed PFH-VAP to reduce those losses by protecting the vitamin A palmitate during the period between food manufacture and consumption. Earlier development work demonstrated improved stability under challenging storage conditions, providing the basis for transferring production to a commercial nutrition manufacturer.

The manufacturing transfer is significant because performance established through development still has to survive scale-up. Production equipment, batch size, raw material handling, process variation, and quality controls can all affect the consistency of a specialist ingredient once it moves beyond pilot manufacture.

Hexagon’s validation campaign was therefore intended to demonstrate that the formulation could be produced at commercial scale without losing the characteristics established during development. The company can now move from process transfer into routine manufacture and wider commercial supply.

Hexagon already produces micronutrient premixes and nutritional products and has an established international manufacturing and distribution footprint. That gives VIT A+ an existing commercial route rather than requiring a new manufacturing and sales organisation to be constructed around the ingredient.

The African launch places the formulation into markets where fortification is already an established public-health tool. Mandatory or voluntary programmes for staple foods mean many processors already have the equipment and quality systems required to add micronutrients, but the effectiveness of those programmes still depends on how much of the nutrient remains in the food through its actual shelf life and preparation.

The formulation also has to work across different food processes. Flour milling, sugar fortification, and bouillon production involve different materials, mixing behaviour, storage conditions, and downstream preparation. A commercially stable vitamin ingredient therefore still requires application-specific validation within the food manufacturer’s own formulation and production controls.

Hexagon launched VIT A+ at the Micronutrient Forum Global Conference in Accra on 28 September. Particles for Humanity remains the developer of the technology, while Hexagon is taking responsibility for commercial manufacturing and distribution.

The transition from development to industrial production is the important step. VIT A+ has moved beyond a laboratory stability result and through commercial-scale process validation; the next measure will be whether manufacturers can incorporate the ingredient consistently across routine high-volume food production while retaining the stability gains that justified the technology in the first place.