Scientific Panel on Food Fortification and Nutrition

Scientific Panel on Food Fortification and Nutrition

Question: Recently a scientific panel on food fortification and nutrition has been set up by …
(a) FSSAI
(b) Ministry of Consumers Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
(c) Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
(d) None of the above.
Ans: (a)
Related Fact:

  • According to press release dated 14th February, 2017, Food regulator FSSAI has set up a scientific panel to frame final regulations on fortification of foods and prepare strategies to address malnutrition problem.
  • The panel has 11 experts and scientists — Ambrish Mithal from Medanta; CS Pandav and R K Marwaha (Retd) from AIIMS; Anura Kurpad from St John’s Medical College; Yogeshwar Shukla from CSIR – Indian Institute of Toxicilogy Research, HPS Sachdev from Sita Ram Bharatia Institute of Science and Research; KM Nair from NIN; P Ramachandran from Nutrition Foundation of India; Sumit Arora from NDRI; Sirimavo Nair from the MS University, Baroda, and Harsulkar from Bharati Vidyapeeth.
  • The Panel will identify critical nutritional gaps in the Indian diet in general as well as in specific target groups based on diet surveys and credible scientific evidence.
  • The panel will also address regulatory and related technological issues, review proposals from industry using modern risk assessment methods and prescribe standard sampling and test methods for effective monitoring, surveillance and enforcement of the relevant regulations.
  • The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has already issued the draft guidelines on fortification for five food items — salt, milk, wheat flour, rice and edible oil — to boost production and consumption of fortified foods.
  • The draft rules were operationalised in October even as FSSAI sought comments from stakeholders before finalising the final regulations.
  • Standards have been set for fortification of salt with iodine and iron; of vegetable oil and milk with vitamin A and D; wheat flour and rice with iron, folic acid, zinc, vitamin B12, vitamin A and some other micro nutrients
  • Fortification is the addition of key vitamins and minerals such as iron, iodine, zinc, Vitamin A & D to staple foods such as rice, milk and salt to improve their nutritional content. These nutrients may or may not have been originally present in the food before processing.

Reference:
http://www.livemint.com/Science/5jwwOWORaHuHwKvHxakbyH/Regulator-sets-up-scientific-panel-on-food-fortification-and.html
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/fssai-sets-up-panel-to-finalise-laws-on-food-fortification/1/880956.html