Fortified rice key to addressing malnutrition, anaemia: experts

Fortified Rice Kernels (FRKs) are crucial for the country to collectively address malnutrition and anaemia as they have been scientifically proven nutritious, costeffective, scalable and sustainable, said experts at a meeting on Monday.

They were speaking at a stakeholders’ meet on FRKs organised by the CSIRNational Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIRNIIST) on its campus at Pappanamcode here.

In his inaugural address through videoconferencing, H.N. Mishra, Emeritus Professor (Food Technology), IIT Kharagpur, said fortification has emerged as an efficient and costeffective alternative in the pursuit of a comprehensive strategy to eradicate micronutrient malnutrition.

Through PDS

“To address anaemia and micronutrient deficiency, the Union government allocated a Budget outlay ₹174.64 crore for three years from 201920 as part of a pilot scheme under PM’s POSHAN Abhiyaan. It envisages distribution of fortified rice through the public distribution system (PDS),” he said.

C. Anandharamakrishnan, Director, CSIRNIIST, in his presidential address, said currently, there are 18,227 rice mills equipped with ricenutrient blending infrastructure, indicating a widespread capacity for producing fortified rice.

Speaking on ‘Production of fortified rice and quality control at rice mills,’ Milli Asrani, Programme Policy Officer, Food Technology, United Nations World Food Programme, New Delhi, said the fortification of rice provided an opportunity to add micronutrients lost during milling and polishing. It also helps to add micronutrients such as iron, zinc, folic acid, vitamin B12 and Vitamin A. Noting that milling of rice removes fat and micronutrient rich bran layers to produce the commonly consumed starch white rice, she said polishing further removes 7590% of Vitamin B1, Vitamin B6, Vitamin E and Niacin.

U. Anuja, Head, Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, spoke.

Experts at a stakeholders’ meet on Fortified Rice Kernels, organised by the CSIR-NIIST on its campus at Pappanamcode on Monday.