12
Mar

Fortified rice

There is not a lot of analysis of supply and demand in this piece on fortified rice.

Jamie

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Health minister urges public to eat fortified rice
Aung Phay Kyi Soe
Myanmar Times
5 March 2019

Health and Sports Minister Dr Myint Htwe has urged people to eat fortified rice to prevent stunting in children and anaemia in pregnant women and children.

He said fortified rice with the right micronutrient composition is produced by the Myanmar Rice Millers Association.

"People need to know the advantages of fortified rice,” the health minister said at a recent workshop on fortified rice in Yangon. “If they consume fortified rice, they can prevent stunting, anaemia and other micronutrient deficiencies."

Malnutrition is a pressing health challenge for the country. Forty percent of pregnant women suffer from anaemia and one in four children is small for their age in Myanmar, according to the Nationwide Micronutrient and Food Consumption Survey for 2017-18.

Fortified rice, with its added nutrients, is a good way to address micronutrient deficiency and malnutrition.

Fortified rice is enriched with vitamins and minerals, including eight essential micronutrients: iron, zinc, folic acid, and vitamins A, B1, B3, B6 and B12.

PATH – a global non-profit organisation that works to accelerate health equity by bringing together public institutions, businesses, social enterprises, and investors to solve the world's most pressing health challenges – is working with 20 private-sector partners in Myanmar, such as rice millers and equipment producers, to ensure that good manufacturing and hygiene standards are met at factories and production plants.

"People in Myanmar are among the highest rice consumers in the world. Therefore, if we add nutrients to rice for prevention of micronutrient deficiency, we can solve the nutrition problem,” said Daw Lwin Mar Hlaing, deputy director of the Department of Public Health’s National Nutrition Centre.

Only 14 rice millers produce fortified rice with the right micronutrient content among the hundreds of registered rice millers nationwide.

An estimated 350,000 people eat fortified rice in the country, according to the centre.

https://www.mmtimes.com/news/health-minister-urges-public-eat-fortified-rice.html

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