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Government to enact a law to fortify
wheat flour and vegetable oil
Takoradi, March 20, Ghanadot/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.
GNA
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