Special Feature 1: Realizing the Ajinomoto Ideals around the World
Advancing Nutrition Improvement in Ghana

In fiscal 2009, the Ajinomoto Group began a three-party joint project in Ghana aiming to improve the nutrition of children during the weaning period, with the University of Ghana and the Nevin Scrimshaw International Nutrition Foundation (INF), an NPO from the United States. The project is a trial to establish a social business that can help solve the issue of malnutrition in developing countries through sustainable business development.
To realize its goals, cooperation between the Ghanaian government, the Japanese government, United Nations' organizations, international NGOs, and companies engaged in improving nutrition is essential. As these organizations from different social sectors already had bases in Ghana for their activities in West Africa, it was selected as the most suitable country for the project.
Representatives from the organizations were invited to the University of Ghana in December 2009, for a symposium on technologies and methods for improving the nutrition of children during the weaning period. Through the symposium, they acknowledged the importance of the joint project and were encouraged to participate in it. In April 2010, people involved in the project including professors from the University of Ghana assembled for a project development meeting at Shanghai Ajinomoto Food Research and Development Center Co., Ltd. A collaboration in product development has commenced with Royal DSM N.V., a Holland-based life science company with extensive experience in nutrition improvement activities, as an example of our efforts to accelerate the project's progress through the concept of “Open Innovation.”

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  A child is fed koko.

In Ghana, the traditional meal for infants during the weaning period is a porridge made with fermented corn, called koko. Deficiency in energy, protein and micronutrients in traditional koko has become one of the major causes for stunted growth among children who feed on it during the weaning period. The project aims to develop and deliver nutritional supplements for this traditional baby food to remedy this situation.

The food developed in this project must meet the following criteria:

1. It provides the sufficient amount of essential nutrients
2. It tastes good
3. It is affordable for the people who need it

Developing food to meet the requirements is a challenge. For example, determining what good-tasting food means for Ghanaians in terms of flavor, richness, viscosity, color, and temperature, has proceeded through trial and error, in cooking demonstrations and discussions with culinary experts from the region.
For encouraging the use of nutrient-fortified food through the project, nutrition education for women is another important matter. In this regard, it is essential that the group collaborates with international NGOs and organizations such as the Ghana Health Service, a government body involved in hygiene and nutrition issues. Accordingly, discussions concerning collaboration have commenced.
The Ajinomoto Group is working to make this new business model in Ghana a success, with the hope of extending it to other countries in West Africa and eventually around the world.