US food giant HJ Heinz Co has pledged to invest a total of US$1m in iron sprinkles designed to be added to food to reduce the incidence of childhood anaemia worldwide.

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Toronto paediatrician and researcher Dr Stanley H. Zlotkin received Heinz’ Humanitarian Award for creating the “Supplefer Sprinkles”, an award that includes a US$750,000 grant. As well as being inexpensive to manufacture, the tasteless sprinkles also contain vitamin C, and are packaged in small amounts so as to not need special measuring.


Zlotkin, who was asked to develop a solution to anaemia in 1996 by UNICEF, found that the supplements cured anaemia in 60% of the children who received the supplement in the West African country of Ghana. The iron syrup and drops available at the time were not working due to poor taste, the fact that they discoloured teeth and the difficulty illiterate mothers had in measuring the correct amounts of iron. Too much can be toxic.


Now more than two million of the sprinkles packets will be distributed to Mongolian children. The effectiveness of the supplement will also be studied in India, China and northern Canada.


Debora S. Foster, director of corporate communications for Pittsburgh-based Heinz, welcomed the project. As the largest producer of single-serve packets in the US, Heinz could use its own expertise to assist Zlotkin.

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“Rarely do we have such an opportunity to make a difference,” she told the Post Gazette: “We can help make something new that will have a marked impact on the health and well-being of others.”