The milling industry has once again shown its commitment and responsibility for healthy nutrition for mankind. For World Flour Day 2024 on 20 March, millers around the world presented their social projects under the auspices of the FlourWorld Museum. World Flour Day is a symbolic day of recognition and appreciation for millers’ wide- ranging dedication. The “Giving Day” initiative celebrates the fundamental importance of flour as a staple food and symbol of life, while underlining the social responsibility of the milling community. The details and stories of the individual projects can be found on the official website www.worldflourday.com and under the hashtag #worldflourday in social media.
Numerous initiatives and activities filled World Flour Day 2024 with life. Mills from countries including Ecuador, Germany, Turkey, Greece and Jordan supplied impressive examples. Their goal was to emphasize the important role the milling industry plays in nutrition while simultaneously providing tangible help where needed most. The activities that were presented showed the wide-ranging potential of the industry to bring about positive change, and ranged from donations of flour and food to needy communities, to educational programmes and sustainability initiatives. Each of the activities underlines the commitment of the millers, which goes beyond just the production of staple foods to include making a valuable contribution to society.
Moderna Alimentos, one of the largest millers in Ecuador, donated over 282 tonnes of food products to various foundations like Banco de Alimentos Quito und Fundación Jonathan in 2023, benefitting a total of 106,398 needy people. To date in 2024 the company has supplied almost 29 tonnes of product, reaching over 20,000 people. In doing this, Moderna Alimentos supports one of the 17 sustainable development goals defined by the United Nations in 2015, to achieve “Null Hunger.”
For the World Flour Day Giving Day campaign, GoodMills Deutschland doubled the donation by MC Mühlenchemie of flour to the Ahrensburg Tafel, enabling the production of some 4000 bread rolls. This enabled a significant expansion of the Tafel’s support for socially disadvantaged families, pensioners, refugees and unemployed persons in the area. The Tafel’s volunteers do important work by distributing goods to the needy, making a major contribution to quality of life in the community.
Flourmills Thrakis I. Ouzounopoulos S.A., a leading milling company in Greece, supplies local farmers with selected seed in cooperation with Department of Agricultural Development of the Democritus University of Thrace, and in return receives dependable amounts of high-quality soft wheat. This programme not only supports the local economy by creating more stable sources of income for the farming community, but also rejuvenates the antique breadbasket of Thrace by bringing back local wheat production. In doing this, the company has introduced a contract farming programme to Greece for the first time, demonstrating its deep commitment to quality, innovation and social responsibility.
South Amman Flour Mills: With the “Bread Loaf” campaign, Jordan’s SAFM helps to strengthen communities, working with the charity organization Takaful to provide bread to needy families. SAFM is the largest miller in Jordan and part of the Al-Hazaa Investment Group, whose primary goal is to contribute to the stability of nutrition security and sustainability in the region. The campaign aims to cover the nutritional needs of poor families by providing daily coupons for bread from local bakeries. By donating flour, SAFM supports the local economy while also improving people’s nutrition and health.
For World Flour Day 2024 Stern Ingredients Turkey started a special donation campaign. The company donated pasta to the Darüşşafaka society, which for years has worked to enable orphans to get an advanced education. The relationship came about for quite personal reasons, as the father of Cenk Engin, Operations Manager at Stern Ingredients Turkey, was formerly a student of Darüşşafaka and experienced how it made a positive difference in his life. The pasta is produced by OBA MAKARNA, Turkey’s largest pasta exporter, which already supplied pasta for a donation by Stern Ingredients Turkey after the devastating earthquake in the southeast of that country.
20 March was chosen for World Flour Day because the date is right in the middle of the solstice. In the Northern Hemisphere this is the beginning of spring, the time of planting, and in the Southern Hemisphere it marks the autumn and harvest. World Flour Day was initiated four years ago and has now become a firm date in the calendars of millers everywhere.
The FlourWorld Museum in Wittenburg near Hamburg, Germany holds the world’s largest collection of flour sacks, with over 3900 sacks from 150 countries. Flour.Power.Life is the unifying idea under which the sacks portray the traditions, history and myths of flour. The museum and World Flour Day are dedicated to flour and the millers of the world, who supply humanity with flour every day.
For more information and to become part of the initiative, visit www.worldflourday.com
