One-day training workshop titled "Quality Assurance and Control mechanism in wheat flour fortification was held at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF)

The state of malnutrition was alarming in the country as 43.7 per cent children below five are stunted. Whereas, 62 percent of children and every second pregnant woman are anaemic. This was echoed by speakers at a one-day training workshop titled "Quality Assurance and Control mechanism in wheat flour fortification at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) . The workshop was jointly arranged by the National Institute of Food Sciences and Technology, UAF and Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition ( GAIN). Addressing on the occasion, Faculty of Food, Nutrition and Home Sciences, UAF, Dean Prof Dr Masood Sadiq Butt said 32.7 per cent of the children suffered from an iron deficiency, 30.3 per cent from a vitamin-A and 40 per cent from a zinc deficiency. He said that in the world two billion people survive on diets that lack the vital vitamins and nutrients. He called for scaling up wheat flour fortification to protect future generations from nutrient deficiency. He said under-nutrition, including micronutrient malnutrition, is one of the main causes of impaired physical and mental development among infants and children. He said that under the project with the Gains, we have the reviewed various flourmills as quality assurance and quality control is concerned. In the second phase of the project, training workshops are being arranged in different cities of Punjab including Rahimyar Khan, Multan, Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Sardodha etc. Chairman Flourmill Association Punjab Anjum Ishaq said that the malnutrition was one of the causes of the deaths in the children. He called for stepping up the efforts for the food fortification in order to fight the challenges of the malnutrition. He urged the scientists, experts, NGOs and all stakeholders for the noble cause. He said food fortification was the best solution to micronutrient malnutrition. He stressed the need for creating awareness among the masses regarding seriousness of malnutrition. GAINS Project Director Munawar Hussin said that Gains had been working in the 30 countries global with the focus on malnutrition. He said that GAIN was driven by the vision of a world without malnutrition. We are actively working on building alliances between governments, business and civil society — to find and deliver solutions to malnutrition. He said that project was having the five parts including production, policy and legislation, quality assistance and control, behavioral changes and management. The trainers, UAF Associate Prof Dr Imran Pasha; Assistant Professors Dr Amir Shahzad, Dr Muhammad Saeed, Dr Allah Rakha; and Dr Ijaz Ahmad from PCSIR also spoke and gave the training to the participants.