Milk Fortification – A Much-Needed Practice
Milk is already a superfood packed with nutrients, but it goes through a series of purification and skimming that may take away its essential nutrient content. That’s why it has become imperative to start practising milk fortification.
“Skimmed milk has lesser vitamin A & D that diminishes its nutrient content.” – Food Fortification Resource Centre (FFRC)
It is more than enough reason to think about fortification that can bring back the vitamins to the milk. While nutritional supplements in the form of capsules or tablets can tackle malnutrition issues, they are neither completely accessible nor highly affordable to common people. As a result, milk fortification emerges as a low-cost, preventive approach to cater to nutrition deficiency.
Fortification of Milk – The Journey Of India
FSSAI & FFRC
The FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority Of India) approved five staples for
fortification, such as wheat flour, salt, rice, milk and oil. Additionally, there have been further regulations put into action that allow fortification of other milk variants like whole milk, skimmed milk and low-fat milk. FSSAI further gave rise to the Food Fortification Resource Centre that focused on fortification of all staple foods on a large scale. FFRC also works to encourage the Indian food industry to practice food fortification and adopt it as a general practice. All the fortified staple foods will adorn the +F logo on their packaging to mark their fortification.
NDDB’s Persistent Efforts
Partnering with the South Asia Food and Nutrition Security Initiative (SAFANASI) and The Indian Nutrition Initiative Tata Trusts, the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) explored all the possibilities of bringing milk fortification to the mainstream Indian milk industry. In the year 2018-19, the partnership was able to pioneer milk fortification in collaboration with dairy producing companies, milk unions, and milk federations.
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