FDB INTRODUCES FOOD FORTIFICATION PROJECT (PAGE 11)

SEVENTY per cent of pregnant women in the country suffer from Iodine Deficiency Anaemia.
The same percentage of children under five also lack Vitamin “A”, which usually results in blindness and the weakening of the immune system, thus making the body susceptible to diseases.
To help reverse this trend, the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) has initiated a programme dubbed: “Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), food fortification project.
Under the project, vegetable oil and wheat flour products in the country are being fortified with vitamin “A”, “B” complex, zinc, iron and folic acid to help consumers treat the deficiency.
According to the Project Manager of the FDB, Mr Richard Odum Nyumuah, the GAIN project was initiated in 2006 to fortify some staple foods such as vegetable oil and wheat flour products because of its wide acceptance and consumption rate by the people.
The project is being facilitated through public-private partnership, which includes government agencies, the Ministry of Health and operators in the food industry.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Tamale, Mr Nyumuah also stated that a directive had been issued to cooking oil and flour importers to bring in only products that were fortified with the recommended vitamins.
The directive, he said would take effect from next month. The manager explained that, “even though a law to that effect was yet to be passed, all major stakeholders in the industry have agreed to go by the standards set by the FDB.”
A team of monitors and inspectors would be put in place to inspect flour and oil factories to ensure that they adhere strictly to the directive spelt out by the FDB to ensure compliance.
“Those who flout the directive will be cautioned and subsequently banned from importing food items that are not fortified with those nutrients, he stated .
At the moment, officials of the project have embarked on a post-market surveillance where 60 markets are selected country-wide and samples collected and sent to the central laboratory in Accra for content analyses.
Mr Nyumuah expressed appreciation for the goodwill and co-operation demonstrated so far by both local manufacturers and importers of the products.
He advised the general public to patronise products that bore the logo of the fortification symbol for their own benefit.
At the moment, the management and staff of the FDB have embarked on a sensitisation tour of some districts in the Northern Region to educate stakeholders on the need to add the nutrients to their products.
Districts covered so far are West Mamprugu, West Gonja, the Yendi municipality, as well as the Tamale metropolis. The programme would eventually cover the entire region in subsequent tours.