Nexus of local context and technology in child complementary feeding

Food and nutrition insecurity in low-income populations is common among children aged 6–24 months when complementary foods are introduced. Traditional complementary foods (TCFs) are usually produced from local staple sources with traditional techniques such as fermentation, malting, and germination, which can improve nutrition and food safety outcomes. However, these techniques are not universally applicable and require optimization to achieve desired nutritional quality, diet diversity, and safety. To enhance the food and nutrition security of weaning children, a climate-resilient and cost-effective strategy is needed that combines local processing technologies and food-to-food fortification based on key learnings from different communities. The valorization of TCFs requires the use of available or adopted technological possibilities in the local context. Hypotheses connecting the interrelated dimensions of TCFs use in improving child nutrition are presented.