Sarkari Naukri

16 August 2021 Current Affairs:Prime Minister Narendra Modi has introduced the fortification of rice distributed below a number of government schemes, together with the Public Distribution System (PDS) and mid-day foods in schools, by 2024.

Highlights:
♦ The announcement is vast as the United States has high levels of malnutrition amongst women and children.
♦ According to the Food Ministry, each second lady in the united states of america is anaemic and each and every third baby is stunted.
♦ India ranks ninety four out of 107 countries and is in the ‘serious hunger’ class on the Global Hunger Index (GHI).
♦ Malnutrition and lack of integral vitamins in poor ladies and bad teenagers poses important obstacles in their development.
♦ The authorities distribute over 300 lakh tonnes of rice under a variety of schemes protected under the National Food Security Act, 2013. For 2021-22, the Centre has allocated 328 lakh tonnes of rice underneath NFSA for schemes such as the Targeted PDS, MDM and Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS).
♦ Food Safety & Standards Authority of India, which units requirements for meals items in the country, defines fortification as “deliberately increasing the content material of essential micronutrients in a meals so as to improve the nutritional exceptional of meals and to provide public health benefit with minimal chance to health”.

Fortified rice:
♦ According to the Food Ministry, fortification of rice is an economical and complementary method to make bigger diets and mineral content in diets.
♦ According to FSSAI norms, 1 kg fortified rice will include iron (28 mg-42.5 mg), folic acid (75-125 microgram) & Vitamin B-12 (0.75-1.25 microgram).
♦ Rice may be fortified with micronutrients, singly or in combination, with zinc(10 mg-15 mg), Vitamin A (500-750 microgram RE), Vitamin B1 (1 mg-1.5 mg), Vitamin B2 (1.25 mg-1.75 mg), Vitamin B3 (12.5 mg-20 mg) and Vitamin B6 (1.5 mg-2.5 mg) per kg.