Law to fortify wheat flour and vegetable oil soon

Takoradi, March 20, GNA - Mr George Pentsil, Western and Central Regional Zonal Officer of Food and Drugs Board (FDB), on Tuesday said the proposed law on food fortification would make it mandatory for local manufacturers to add vitamins and minerals to wheat flour and commercially refined vegetable oil.

He said addition of vitamins and minerals to wheat flour and vegetable oil formed part of the National Food Fortification Programme, aimed at controlling the high prevalence of micronutrient malnutrition in the country.

Mr Pentsil announced this when addressing the opening session of a day's training programme on the guidelines for "Inspection and Enforcement of the Requirements for Fortified Wheat Flour and Vegetable Oil" at Takoradi.

Personnel from Custom, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), FDB and Ghana Standards Board (GSB) attended the programme. Mr Pentsil said vitamins and minerals to be added to wheat flour included iron, Vitamin A, B1, B2, B6, B12, Folic Acid and Zinc while Vitamin A would be added to commercially refined vegetable oil.

He said a 35-member Multi-Sectoral National Food Fortification Alliance (NFFA) formed by the FDB, Ghana Health Service, GSB, CEPS, Ministry of Trade, Industries and President's Special Initiative; Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment and other agencies were implementing the Food Fortification Programme. Mr Pentsil noted that several researches had firmly established the existence of severe micronutrient deficiency in the country and had been identified by the Ministry of Health as a major public health problem that should be addressed.

Mr Pentsil pointed out that these deficiencies were the result of inadequate dietary intake due to poverty, lack of access to variety of foods, lack of knowledge of optimal dietary practices and the incidence of infectious diseases.

He said available records indicated that 72 per cent of children between two and five years suffered from Vitamin A deficiency while the prevalence rate of anaemia among them was 76 per cent.

Mr Pentsil said the prevalence rate of anaemia among women of reproductive age was 41 per cent and interventions adopted for two essential micronutrients, Vitamin A and iron, included supplementations, dietary diversification and public health education.

He said in spite the wide variety and availability of foods rich in Vitamin A and iron, the consumption of these foods had not been encouraging.

Mr Pentsil said the current ongoing Vitamin A Supplementation, which had reached about 90 per cent of children was limited to children between six and nine months, who were mostly at risk and lactating mothers.

Mr Pentsil said supplementation for the population that was marginally affected by the deficiency would not be cost effective, therefore, there was the need to adopt a more effective and feasible food based strategies to complement these interventions to manage these micronutrient deficiencies in the country.

He said it was against this background that the National Food Fortification Alliance was formed to develop a five-year food fortification strategic plan to address the problem.

Mr Pentsil said to ensure 100 per cent fortification of commercially produced wheat flour and vegetable oil as well as imported vegetable oil by the end of the first year; the Alliance signed a memorandum of understanding with four wheat flour millers, a vegetable oil producer and two importers of bulk vegetable oil.

He said the project was funded by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, Private Sector, Industry and Government to augment current supplementation efforts to help to achieve objectives of the programme. Mr Pentsil said he was optimistic that the training programme would keep the participants abreast with the guidelines on inspection and enforcement of requirements for fortified wheat flour and vegetable oil. 20 March 07