Food Fortification Legislation

TheNetwork for consumer protection organized a very informative and a powerful webinar session on "The role of key stakeholders in improving and highlighting the current food fortification legislation” which was facilitated by legendary Dr. Khawaja Masood Ahmed (National Coordination, National Fortification Alliance). The webinar highlighted the need of national level food fortification legislation to address the growing problem of malnutrition in the country. Dr. Khawaja Masood discussed the history of food fortification in Pakistan and the current status of legislation. He articulated that food fortification started in Pakistan after the development of 1960s Pakistan pure food rules in which fortification of edible oil/ghee with vitamin A was made mandatory. In 1990s Pakistan started working on salt iodization in which multiple small scale initiatives were carried out under the planning commission at the federal level with the support of different stakeholders like UNICEF and WHO. He also appreciated the efforts of TheNetwork for consumer protection which was actively involved in promotion of salt iodization in the country during that time. He further told that after the constitution of National Fortification Alliance in 2003, the idea of wheat flour fortification was supported by key stakeholders like Nutrition International and GAIN. He concluded by saying that food fortification is the most cost-effective public health intervention that can lead to relatively rapid improvements in the micronutrient status of the population.