Lahore (Nut Desk) Nutrition International in collaboration with Punjab Food Authority and National Fortification Alliance Pakistan organized a one-day training on “Edible Oil Fortification Processes and Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QAQC)” in a local hotel in Lahore on March 28, 2022.
The training was part of Nutrition International’s project on “Digitizing Pakistan’s Vitamin A /oil Program to Drive Sustainability” being implemented across Pakistan. The training session was attended by more than 30 officials from Punjab Food Authority and edible oil mills from Punjab. The training covered topics on importance of edible oil fortification, methods of fortification and best practices for Quality Assurance and Quality Control.
Ms. Saba Adil, Additional Director General – Operations, Punjab Food Authority while talking to the participants said, “food fortification is a simple and cost effective intervention to improve nutrition and wellbeing of our women and adolescent girls.
Good and balanced nutrition is essential for a healthy growth and development of our children as it increases their ability to learn, grow and be an effective contributor to the economy”. She added that provision of quality and nutritious food is a priority for Punjab Food Authority. She also appreciated Nutrition International (NI) for its technical support in implementing edible oil fortification interventions in the province.
Dr Khawaja Masood Ahmed–National Coordinator, National Fortification Alliance (NFA), MoNHSR&C also highlighted the importance of food fortification and shared that fortification standards have been approved by the government and now NFA is working with the provincial governments for necessary regulation to create an enabling environment for food fortification.
Zameer Haider, National Project Manager, Nutrition International said, “Almost half of women and children in Pakistan are micronutrients deficient and 37% households are food insecure, which is an alarming situation and needs to be addressed on an urgent basis. Due to this poor state of malnutrition, Pakistan is losing around 3% of its GDP (which is 7.6 USD) annually.”
Umer Islam Khan, Secretary General, Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers’ Association (PVMA) while speaking to the participants shared that cooking oil industries are fully committed to play their role to improve the nutrition of our people and assured their association’s wholehearted support to Nutrition International and the National Fortification Alliance for this noble cause where vitamins A&D can be given to people through adequate fortification of cooking oil.
At the end of the training, certificates were distributed amongst participants.
