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More children to get fortified rice
Why is it in news?
- The government is planning to distribute fortified rice through the Integrated Child Development Services and Mid-Day Meal schemes across the country.
Details
- The fortified rice would be distributed to children in a order to combat chronic anaemia and undernutrition.
- The rice would be infused with iron, folic acid and vitamin B-12.
- According to Food Ministry, special focus will be on 112 aspirational districts.
Pilot Project:
- The pilot scheme to distribute fortified rice through the PDS is being implemented in 15 districts so far.
- The Centrally sponsored pilot scheme was approved in February 2019.
- The Food Corporation of India has now been asked to scale up the annual supply of fortified rice from the current 15,000 tonnes to at least 1.3 lakh tonnes.
Fortifying Rice:
- It involves grinding broken rice into powder, mixing it with nutrients, and then shaping it into rice-like kernels using an extrusion process.
- These fortified kernels are then mixed with normal rice in a 1:100 ratio, and distributed for consumption.
- Currently, there are only 15,000 tonnes of these kernels available per year in India.