FSSAI focuses on fortification of edible oil with vitamin A & D

Fortification of Edible Oil with Vitamin A and D to be Considered Mandatory

A national webinar on Edible Oil Fortification: From Commitment to Action was facilitated recently to discuss key operational areas as well as challenges in addressing malnutrition.

It was jointly hosted by the Food Fortification Resource Centre under the Food Safety Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) in association with GAIN. Several representatives from the Government, Development partners, Academia and Edible oil industry players had participated in this webinar.

During his opening remarks, Arun Singhal, CEO, FSSAI announced that “FSSAI is considering to make it mandatory to fortify edible oil with vitamin A and D, so that people of India can enjoy better immunity with good health. This will ensure that people belonging to different socioeconomic strata will have easy access to fortified edible oil across the country”.

To facilitate the industry, the Food Fortification Resource Centre (FFRC) within FSSAI will also provide the necessary technical support required to enable fortification of edible oil at the industry level, Singhal highlighted.

Development sector organisations like GAIN along with FFRC have been working together with oil industry to build their capacities for producing quality assured edible oil fortified with vitamin A and D.

At present, 69% (7.94 MMT/annum edible oil) of packaged edible oil sold across panIndia is fortified. Now is the time to scale up the edible oil fortification, across the country, to improve nutrition and health status of Indian population.