Abstrait

FOOD FORTIFICATION IN INDIA - NEED OF HOUR

S. K. Goyal

Fortification may be used as a tool to correct or prevent widespread nutrient inadequacies and, hence, correct associated micronutrient deficiencies to balance the total nutrient profile of diets, to restore nutrients lost in food processing, or to make products more appealing to consumers. Food fortification is an important nutrition intervention to fight micronutrient deficiencies and to reduce their incidence in many low? and middle?income countries. Its approaches experienced a significant rise in the recent years and have generated a lot of criticism. Micronutrient deficiencies often cause malnutrition that is a crucial public health problem, especially in developing countries. Although the concept and implementation of food fortification are not novel in India, still since Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) introduced it mandatory, the paradigm of food fortification has been broadened. In the current regulation, common staple foods such as wheat flour, rice, edible oil, milk and salt have been selected as food vehicle for