ON FOOD fORTI - DOH Central Library - Department of Health

34 A Report. on Food Fortification
advocacy, formulating quality standards
and enforcing them, and providing for
tax breaks and other health-oriented
incentives. The NGOs and international
agencies can playa strong support role
through advocacy to promote a positive
attitudetowards fortification attheglobal,
national and community levels.
Organizations like the WHO and FAO
can help much through endorsement of
standardsand promotionof products that
meet such standards. Helen Keller, for
instance, placed its seal on Star Margarine
and supported training for health
education.
The real doers, however, are those
in the industry, since you are the ones
who will handle technical production,
bring in local ingredients and put quality
control .in .place. You also have the
marketing and distribution skills. You
can find effective ways of reaching target
groups, conduct post-marketing
surveillance, undertake product
development as an investment for the
future, and get involved in local nutrition
education programs.
What is important is that you have.
a product that can be fortified and that
its fortification will have a significant
impact. This requires the establishment
and maintenance of quality assurance
program, backed up by international
product control, especially on packaging,
labeling, and distribution. Government
must have supportive laws, regulations
and standards, put in place an inspection
and surveillance system, and follow
through with enforcement. The
community needs to be informed of the
nature and extent of the problem in order
to be able to accept and demand products
of fortification.
The partnership also requires us to
understand differences in language. The
language of industry often revolves
around the consumer and the market.
Government often talks of taxpayers and
voters and the will and welfare of the
people, while the language of service
agencies is full of terms of children and
families at risk and population in need.
But micronutrient malnutrition affects
the same people, not just those in remote
villages but also those in urban centers
like Manila where 20% of newborns were
reported sufferingfrom iodinedeficiency.
We need to understand one another.
A major barrier to .our effort ·is that
the concept of micronutrient deficiency
is relatively new and the people are just
getting aware of it. Except for the health
and scme other cabinet ministries, some
developmentagencies and a few industries
which champion the cause of nutrition,
very few know about the nature and
magnitude of the problem or are
committedto its elimination. To overcome
this difficulty on a global scale, a project
is now underway to conduct a survey
covering more than 15 countries, which
will be the potential key actors in the
campaign, to bringoutissues, or obstacles,
andpossiblesolutions andwaysofrnoving