Development of an extruded micronutrient delivery vehicle for the fortification of nixtamalised maize with chelated iron at the point of wet milling

The use of high‐temperature extrusion for the development of a micronutrient delivery vehicle (MDV), made of rice and maize (1:1 w/w), as part of a fortification technology for traditional nixtamalised maize (NM) masa at the point of use was evaluated. A Welly puffing extruder and a peristaltic pump were used to establish a uniform extrusion process for MDVs containing 302 ± 13 mg kg^?1 of NaFeEDTA or 656 ± 8 mg kg^?1 of ferrous bisglycinate. After manual premixing (30 s) of MDVs with NM (1:20 or 1:40 MDV:NM) and grinding with a pilot scale burr mill (5 min), iron distribution in masa was variable, ranging 3–21% RSD within sections of individual 2‐kg batches. Kneading (5 min) shortly after grinding resulted in uniformed iron distribution (<4% RSD). Despite the iron source and fortification level, fortified NM masa was harder and darker than control after 8‐h storage at room temperature; however, these changes require further sensory evaluation.