RICE FORTIFICATION

1. Background

• The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) defines fortification as "deliberately increasing the content of essential micronutrients in a food so as to improve the nutritional quality of food and to provide public health benefits with minimal risk to health".

• The Union Cabinet approved a scheme to distribute fortified rice under government programmes. 

• Food Corporation of India and state agencies have already procured 88.65 LMT (lakh tonnes) of fortified rice for supply and distribution.

• Fortification of staple foods, when appropriately implemented, can be an efficient, simple and inexpensive strategy for supplying additional vitamins and minerals to the diets of large segments of the population. 

• Rice is cultivated in many parts of the world, as it grows in diverse climates. Industrial fortification of rice with vitamins and minerals has been practised for many years in several countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region, Western Pacific Region and Region of the Americas, where rice is a staple consumed regularly in the preparation of many common local dishes. 

• Decisions about the types and amounts of nutrients to add to fortified rice are commonly based on the nutritional needs and gaps in dietary intake of the target populations; the usual level of consumption of rice; the sensory and physical effects of the fortificant on the rice kernels; the fortification processing used in the production of the fortified kernels; the availability and coverage of fortification of other staple food vehicles; the population consumption of vitamin and mineral supplements; the costs; the feasibility of implementation; and the acceptability to the consumers.

2.What is Rice fortification all about?

• Various technologies are available to add micronutrients to regular rice, such as coating, dusting, and ‘extrusion’. 
• The last-mentioned involves the production of fortified rice kernels (FRKs) from a mixture using an ‘extruder’ machine. It is considered to be the best technology for India.

3.Need of Fortification

• India has very high levels of malnutrition among women and children. According to the Food Ministry, every second woman in the country is anaemic and every third child is stunted.
• Fortification of food is considered to be one of the most suitable methods to combat malnutrition. 
• Rice is one of India’s staple foods, consumed by about two-thirds of the population. Per capita rice consumption in India is 6.8 kg per month. Therefore, fortifying rice with micronutrients is an option to supplement the diet of the poor.

4.WHO Recommendations on Food fortification

• Fortification of rice with iron is recommended as a public health strategy to improve the iron status of populations, in settings where rice is a staple food (strong recommendation, moderate certainty evidence). 
• Fortification of rice with vitamin A may be used as a public health strategy to improve the iron status and vitamin A nutrition of populations (conditional recommendation, low-certainty evidence). 
• Fortification of rice with folic acid may be used as a public health strategy to improve the folate nutritional status of populations.