National workshop on edible oil fortification held

Islamabad:A national workshop on institutionalising mandatory edible oil fortification in Pakistan was organised by Nutrition International in collaboration with all four provincial food authorities, National Fortification Alliance and Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association.

The objective of the workshop was to raise awareness on the importance of fortified edible oil and acknowledge the role of edible oil industry and public sector food regulatory bodies in implementing, scaling up and sustaining oil fortification with vitamins A&D.

The workshop was attended by Secretary Food Punjab, Secretary Food AJK, Director General(s) Sindh, Balochistan and KP Food Authorities, Chairman Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA), edible oil millers and different officials from government and private institutions and academia.

In the workshop, senior officials from food authorities, food departments, PVMA and other relevant government departments discussed the importance of fortification of edible oil with vitamins A&D and committed to support each other to ensure provision of safe, healthy, and fortified edible oil to the end-user in order to reduce micronutrient deficiencies among the population.

Speaking at the workshop, Zameer Haider, national programme manager, Edible Oil Fortification, shared the efforts and contributions of Nutrition International in implementing large scale food fortification in Pakistan. He shared that NI has provided state of the art testing equipment to food authorities, and enhanced the capacity of staff through various training programs, and training all edible oil mills on fortification processes. He stressed upon the importance of multi-sectoral collaboration to improve nutritional status of the people.

PVMA Chairman Shaikh Abdul Razzaque appreciated the efforts of NI in organising the workshop and shared that micronutrient deficiencies are increasing at an alarming rate, and we need to make efforts to address this problem. He also highlighted the availability of open oil on sale in the market that is unhygienic, unfortified, and unhealthy and requested all food authorities to take action against the open oil traders to curtail their share in the market.

Dr. Khawaja Masood, national coordinator, National Fortification Alliance & Nutrition, said the malnutrition affects more than 50 per cent of women and children in Pakistan and addressing the issue is important to foster economic growth in the country.

Agha Fakhar Hussain, DG SFA, Shahrukh Ali Khan, DG KP Food Authority and Muhammad Naeem Bazai, DG Balochistan Food Authority appreciated the efforts of NI and its contribution towards improving technical and human resource capacity to ensure that high quality and proper refined edible oil is produced and supplied in the market. They also reiterated on the efforts needed to controlling the sale of unprocessed and unhygienic oil in the market. DG KP Food Authority highlighted the need to collaborate at the provincial level to stop the inter provincial movement of unpacked unhygienic oil.

Muhammad Zaman Wattoo, secretary Food Department Punjab and Mansoor Qadir Dar, secretary Food AJ&K also addressed the audience and shared their commitment to implementing food fortification in their respective provinces.

At the end of the workshop, shields were distributed among the best performing officials from provincial food department, food authorities, PVMA and the edible oil mills to acknowledge their role and commitment in implementing oil fortification in Pakistan.