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. 2024 Jul;20 Suppl 5(Suppl 5):e13274.
doi: 10.1111/mcn.13274. Epub 2021 Sep 23.

Whole egg powder makes nutritious diet more affordable for Ethiopia: A cost of the diet and affordability analysis

Kaleab Baye  1   2 , Andinet Abera  3 , Stanley Chitekwe  4 , Paulos Getachew  1 , Abebe Hailemariam  4 , Filippo Dibari  5 , Arnaud Laillou  4
Affiliations

Whole egg powder makes nutritious diet more affordable for Ethiopia: A cost of the diet and affordability analysis

Kaleab Baye et al. Matern Child Nutr. 2024 Jul.

Abstract

Despite sustained nutrition education, consumption of animal source foods (ASFs) has been hindered by their low availability, accessibility and affordability. Drying eggs into powder can reduce transport/storage costs, increase shelf-life and allow easier dosage for use of smaller portions. This study aimed to evaluate the contribution of integrating egg powder to the nutrient adequacy and affordability of diets. Using the 'cost of the diet' analysis, we simulated the incorporation of egg powder into households' and children's diet and evaluated its contribution to the nutrient adequacy and affordability of diets. Analysis of the household consumption and expenditure survey (HCES 2016) revealed that only 0.2% of the total consumption expenditure was allocated for eggs, far below the 2.2% and 4.3% required to allow the consumption of one egg a day by the average and the poorest households, respectively. However, the minimum-cost nutritious diet required only 2.5 g of egg powder/person/day to reduce the cost of the optimized diet by 14% (0-24%), allowing an additional 1.2 million households (~4-6 million individuals) afford the optimized diet. The optimized diet for a child 6-23 months of age could be afforded by all households, except by those in the poorest wealth quintile. But, free distribution of egg powder to households in the poorest wealth quintile, if supplemented by effective nutrition education, can allow them to afford the minimum-cost nutritious diet for their 6- to 23-month child. The simple dehydration of egg into egg powder can have a substantial contribution towards increased egg consumption by increasing the affordability of the minimum-cost nutritious diet.

Keywords: animal source foods; cost‐of‐the diet; diet quality; food price; nonaffordability; nutrient adequacy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The Fill the Nutrient Gap approach
Figure 2
Figure 2
Share of household expenditure (%) spent and needed for egg consumption. Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals. Source: Authors' analyses of HCES, 2015–2016
Figure 3
Figure 3
Share of household expenditure (%) needed for different portions of egg and egg powder. Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals. Source: Authors' analyses of HCES, 2015–2016
Figure 4
Figure 4
Reduction in the cost (a) and increase in proportion of household that can afford (b) the minimum‐cost nutritious diet with the integration of 2.5 g of egg powder/day. Source: Authors' Fill the Nutrient Gap analysis
Figure 5
Figure 5
Number of households (in millions) that can afford the minimum‐cost nutritious diet before and after integration of egg powder (EP) into the market
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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