Fortified Rice Kernels (FRKs) are crucial for the country to collectively address malnutrition and anaemia as they have been scientifically proven nutritious, cost-effective, scalable and sustainable, said experts at a meeting today.
They were speaking at a stakeholders meet on FRKs organised by CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST) on its campus at Pappanamcode here.
In his inaugural address through videoconferencing, Dr H.N. Mishra, Emeritus Professor (Food Technology), IIT Kharagpur, said fortification has emerged as an efficient and cost-effective alternative in the pursuit of a comprehensive strategy to eradicate micronutrient malnutrition.
Calling for an urgent intervention, Dr. Mishra said as per World Health Organisation (WHO) data, about 37% of pregnant women and 40% children under five globally suffer from iron deficiency. As per the National Family Health Survey 2021, about 58% of children, 57% of women and 22% of men in India are anaemic.
Distribution through PDS
“To address anaemia and micro-nutrient deficiency, the Government of India allocated a total Budget outlay ₹174.64 crore for a period of three years from 2019-20 as part of a pilot scheme under PM’s POSHAN Abhiyaan. It envisages distribution of fortified rice through the public distribution system,” he said.
Dr. Mishra said the initiative has reached around 12 crore children and 10.3 crore women across the country. The government aims an outreach to 50 crore beneficiaries under the scheme by 2024. Commodities that are being fortified in India are milk, oil, wheat, rice and salt.
According to him, effective implementation of the fortification of rice programme requires quality control, quality analysis, regulatory standard and coordination among stakeholders.
Dr C. Anandharamakrishnan, Director, CSIR-NIIST, in his presidential address, said currently, there are 18,227 rice mills equipped with rice-nutrient blending infrastructure, indicating a widespread capacity for producing fortified rice.
Health benefits
Citing that grain fortification has the potential to reduce anaemia and improve iron and vitamin levels, Dr C Anandharamakrishnan said CSIR-NIIST would come up with its own FRK soon.
“Since food security is a concern, we need healthier products and focus on fortification of grains. To balance over-nutrition and under-nutrition, we need to look for alternative proteins,” he said.
Higlighting the business potential of FRK, Dr C. Anandharamakrishnan said the fortified rice market was expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.3% and reach a market size of $28.4 billion by 2027.
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 add other micronutrients such as iron, zinc, folic acid, vitamin B-12 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 75-90% of Vitamin B-1, Vitamin B-6, Vitamin E and Niacin.
Commenting that food fortification is a global intervention that addresses the issue of micronutrient deficiencies, Ms. Asrani said it was scientifically proven, cost-effective, scalable and sustainable.
“Food fortification is the practice of increasing the micronutrient content to improve the nutritional quality of the food supply. Currently, there are more than 600 FSSAI-registered FRK manufacturers in the country. Iodisation of salt is an example of successful food fortification in India,” Ms Asrani said.
Dr. U Anuja, Head, Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram was among those who spoke.
