Micronutrient deficiencies alarmingly high among women & children: DG SFA

KARACHI: Director General Sindh Food Authority (SFA) Agha Fakhar Hussain has said that micronutrient deficiencies are alarmingly high in Sindh, particularly among women and children.

He was of the opinion that with the prevalence of social media platforms, we could spread messages at large scale.

He said that Sindh has taken the lead in Pakistan by passing the Food Fortification Bill. The Sindh Legislative Assembly approved the bill on November 25, 2021, and it became an Act on December 17, 2021.

Addressing a workshop on ‘National Nutrition’, organized by Nutritional International at PC Bhurban, he added, “Following Sindh’s example, Balochistan and KP have also passed similar bills, and we hope Punjab will do the same in the near future. This bill makes it mandatory to fortify Oil / Ghee with vitamins A & D and Wheat Flour with Iron, Folic Acid, Zinc, and Vitamin B12”.

DG SFA Agha Fakhar Hussain said that Sindh Food Authority had recently signed MoU with the University of Karachi to operationalize a laboratory. Nutritional International has provided sophisticated and expensive equipment to analysis the quality of Oil and Fats.

We are strengthening our efforts to regulate loose oil traders and closely monitor restaurants and shops to ensure food safety.

DG SFA Agha Fakhar also thanked Nutritional International for organizing a large scale food fortification workshop.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023