Marikina ‘Nutribun’ feeding program is back

We pushed the revival of the Nutribun program, which was first implemented during the Marcos administration

Marikina City Mayor Marcelino Teodoro has revived the implementation of the famous “Nutribun” program in all public elementary schools, particularly kindergarten and Grade 1 pupils, in the city as part of his feeding program.

The revival of the program aims to address the serious problem of child malnutrition in the city, the mayor said.

“We are targeting zero malnutrition by next year,” Teodoro told the Daily Tribune in an interview over the weekend.

Nutribun was a healthy snack, a fortified of bread that was given free to students during 1970s, advocated during the Marcos administration and distributed in public schools nationwide to address child malnutrition.

“We pushed the revival of the Nutribun program, which was first implemented during the Marcos administration,” Teodoro said.

The local chief executive said school canteens in all public elementary schools in the city are now producing ‘Nutribun’ breads.

“We want the bread being fortified with 45 micronutrients to make sure that it is healthy and nutritious. We’ve tasted it already. I’m sure the children would like it,” he said.

Teodoro said cases of child malnutrition in the city are now slowly dropping, but what worries him is the increasing number of obese children.

“For now, malnutrition is low. However, it became two-pronged because the malnutrition in terms of undernourishment is low but obesity has slowly increased,” the mayor explained.