Mandatory fortification of food soon

Workshop held to raise awareness on food fortification

LAHORE: The government will soon bring legislative reforms for mandatory fortification of staple food to deal with impairment of cognitive development caused by micro-nutrient deficiencies, Labour and Human Resource Minister Raja Ashfaq Sarwar said on Monday.

He was addressing an advocacy workshop organised by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and the National Fortification Alliance (NFA).

The purpose of the workshop was to raise awareness among legislators on food fortification.

Around 20 parliamentarians, representatives of United Nations agencies and their development partners attended the event.

Sarwar stressed the need to improve access to nutritious food. “Food fortification is a globally recognised strategy to address deficiency of micro-nutrient in the daily food,” he said.

Sajjad Imran, the GAIN country manager, said that there were high levels of malnutrition in the country and the situation was getting worse. “The results of the 2011 National Nutrition Survey revealed an alarming situation,” he said.

Punjab Assembly Youth Caucus chairman Sardar Vickas Hassan Mokal said that lawmakers appreciated the technical support by development partners in bringing legislative reforms to strengthen food fortification. “The parliamentarians are committed to ensuring provision of essential vitamins and minerals to the population through food fortification,” he said.

Parliamentarians Saira Iftikhar, Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora, Zebun Nisa Awan and Azhar Khan Jadoon attended the workshop.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2015.