The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is a foundation that mobilises public-private partnerships, providing financial and technical support to deliver healthier foods and supplements to people at risk of malnutrition.
Micronutrient "premix" is a commercially prepared blend of vitamins and minerals used to fortify staple foods. Premix is a complicated commodity. Price and quality can vary tremendously, and quality verification requires sophisticated equipment and expertise. Government and industry partners in developing countries face many challenges in procuring premix for food fortification programmes, including access to reliable suppliers, variable prices and lack of a system to ensure product quality.
To address these barriers, GAIN has established the GAIN Premix Facility (GPF) to make premix procurement easy. The objective of the GPF is to provide a simple, cost effective way for premix customers to source the right quality premix.
With the GPF, GAIN customers can access high quality premix at a competitive cost. The GAIN premix facility will eliminate many of the challenges of premix procurement by leveraging:
- A large, combined premix volume across multiple food fortification projects
- Robust processes and systems
- An experienced procurement and certification team
Crown Agents was chosen as the procurement agent for this project following a competitive selection process. Since the notification of award, we have worked with GAIN and Intertek (the appointed Certification Agent) to undertake a stringent supplier selection process to set up a pool of pre-qualified premix blenders and vitamin and mineral manufacturers for inclusion in the GPF.
We are responsible for the management of the operational coordination of premix procurement and shipment activities. To provide an online service to the GPF, Crown Agents has developed a web portal which allows clients to register their requirements through the GAIN website and track progress of their contracts in real time.
Intertek will conduct ongoing sampling and analysis of premix production samples to ensure quality. Intertek will also periodically audit premix suppliers to ensure ongoing adherence to good manufacturing practices.
The GAIN premix facility started operations on the 1st of July 2009. We will be working with over 20 suppliers (including manufacturers and blenders of premix) and clients in over 25 countries.
In the first 3 months of operation, we have been able to touch 30 million lives with certified quality premix at an affordable cost.
For more information, visit the GAIN premix facility website.