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Virendra Pandit

Gandhinagar June 18 Bakeries in Gujarat would use fortified `maida' (white flour) in making products with a view to improving public health from August 15 this year, a government official has said.

According to Dr S.K. Nanda, Principal Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, between 20,000 tonnes and 30,000 tonnes of bread, biscuits and other bakery products are consumed every month in Gujarat as 15 per cent population of the State, mostly in urban areas, depend on these products for their daily needs.

On an average, each of the 90 lakh consumers of Gujarat have an intake of 400 gm of bread and other bakery products a day.

He told Business Line that his department, which has been spearheading fortification of daily consumer products such as wheat flour, salt and edible oil, has now decided to expand its ambit to bakeries as well.

At a recent meeting of bakery owners and government officials, it was decided to implement the fortified white flour scheme.

With fortification being done at the raw material stage itself, in white flour, these products will now be laced with ingredients such as iron and folic acid.

Malnutrition

Malnutrition in India causes death of 24 lakh children and 1,32,000 women and loss of productivity to the tune of $900 million annually, even as the State Governments are forced to spend crores of rupees each year to fight diseases caused by malnutrition which can be prevented with simple, cost-effective measures like fortification, Dr Nanda said.

For this purpose, the State Government enlisted support from the Vadodara-based Nicholas Piramal India Ltd (formerly, Sarabhai Chemicals Ltd), which manufactured the fortification mix available in sachets. The Saurashtra Oil Millers' Association (SOMA), finding that it would cost only an additional three paisa per kg, agreed to add pre-mixed Vitamins A and D.

In the case of wheat flour, the Gujarat State Civil Supplies Corporation, which distributes 50,000 tonnes of wheat annually through the PDS, and the private players accounting for another 2.50 lakh tonnes, also went through a similar fortification process.

Pouches containing one gm of fortification mix, that increased the price by only 10 paisa per kg, were used by the Flour Millers Association and Wheat and Flour Association at the grinding stage throughout Gujarat before they supplied wheat flour to the people.

Mandatory for suppliers

As part of fortifying food articles such as wheat flour, edible oil and salt across all brands, the State Government had made it mandatory for suppliers of these items to ensure that their products contained iron, zinc, folic acid in wheat flour and Vitamins A and D in oil.

Last year, the Government made mandatory the fortification of iodised salt with iron, to increase haemoglobin content of the people in a State where surveys had found nearly 70 per cent of the population anaemic, Dr Nanda said.

In order to ascertain the impact of the food fortification programme, the department also undertook survey of the State's top 19 players before and after they started taking fortified wheat flour, edible oil and salt, so as to encourage others to accept the measures.

Survey

The results of the recent survey indicated an increase in haemoglobin content in their blood and better efficiency and performance, he asserted.

Gujarat is the first State in the country to undertake fortification of salt as well, after its iodisation was made mandatory across the country some years ago.

Dr Nanda said edible oil and salt manufacturers from across the country were now making these commodities separately for Gujarat after fortifying them and using the new logo made mandatory by the State Government for all suppliers.

More Stories on : Dairy & Dairy Products | Health | Gujarat

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