THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: 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 here on Monday.
The experts were speaking at the stakeholders’ meeting on FRKs organised by CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST) on its campus at Pappanamcode here, a constituent laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
In his inaugural address through videoconferencing, H N Mishra, Emeritus Professor, (Food Technology), IIT Kharagpur, said that in the pursuit of the comprehensive strategy to eradicate micronutrient malnutrition, fortification has emerged as an efficient and cost-effective alternative.
Calling for urgent intervention, Mishra said that as per WHO data, about 37 per cent of pregnant women and 40 per cent of children under five globally, suffer from iron deficiency. As per the National Family Health Survey 2021, about 58 per cent of children, 57 per cent of women and 22 per cent of men in India are anaemic.
“To address anaemia and micro-nutrient deficiency, the Government of India allocated a total budget outlay of Rs 174.64 crore for a period of three years from 2019-20 under a pilot scheme under PM’s POSHAN Abhiyaan. It envisages distribution of fortified rice through the public distribution system,” he said.
C Anandharamakrishnan, Director, CSIR-NIIST, in his presidential address, said that currently, there are 18,227 rice mills equipped with rice-nutrient blending infrastructure, indicating a widespread capacity for producing fortified rice. Citing that grain fortification has the potential to reduce anaemia and improve iron and vitamin levels, Anandharamakrishnan said CSIR-NIIST will come up with its own FRK soon.
Suggesting that FRK is a good business to start, C Anandharamakrishnan said the fortified rice market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.3 per cent and reach a market size of 28.4 billion US dollars 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 fortification of rice provides 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.
Those who spoke at various technical sessions of the event included Dr U Anuja, Head, Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, N P Antony, MD, Pavizham Healthier Diet, Ernakulam, and Samir Laud, general manager, Premix Division, Hexagon Nutrition, Mumbai.