Mid-day meals to have fortified flour soon

Last month,the state Food and Civil Supplies Department (FCSD),taking cognisance of the questions raised about the benefits of the fortified wheat flour,had decided to carry out the third party evaluation.

The decision was taken during the Supreme Court-appointed Wadhwa Committee’s visit to the state to inquire into the working of the Public Distribution System (PDS).

Rajesh Kishore,Principal Secretary,FCSD,had then said,“This evaluation,which will start soon,will be aimed at determining and comparing the nutritional value of the wheat flour and the fortified wheat flour.”

Also,the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) under the aegis of the Indian Council of Medical Research,Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,the Government of India,in its report on fortified wheat flour had negated any significant benefits ascribed to it. According to NIN,the fortified wheat flour might also interfere with the absorption of iron leading to toxicity.

To add to it,the Gujarat government in an affidavit in Gujarat High Court had submitted that the decision to distribute fortified wheat flour through PDS was based on a study conducted on 20 athletes. Incidentally,the study conducted in Daskroi block of Ahmedabad district by the district health officer had shown a rise of 2gm per cent haemoglobin in these athletes in three months on consuming fortified wheat flour.

Meanwhile,state government spokesman and Health Minister Jay Narayan Vyas,who had claimed the nutritional benefits of fortified wheat flour while announcing the ‘food fortification movement’,declined to comment on the issue.

Rajesh Kishore said,“In this case,nutritional benefits of the fortified wheat flour are to be evaluated by the education department as it is their decision to include it in the mid-day meal scheme. We are only suppliers.”