6 Desember 2023 | Hotel Avenzel
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
The FGD was held on December 6 2023, at Avenzel Hotel & Convention Cibubur, a continuation of the previous FGD on November 13-14, 2023. The meeting was attended by representatives of relevant Ministries/Agencies and business actors, aiming to strengthen coordination on various regulations regarding mandatory food fortification and its implementation for more effective and sustainable program performance. The FGD discussed three topics: wheat flour, salt, and palm cooking oil (MGS) fortification. The participants were representatives from Bappenas, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Industry, BSN, KFI, Nutrition International, GAPMMI, AIMMI, PT Manunggal Perkasa, Bogasari, PT Interflour, and Apical. Prof. Drajat Martianto, Co-director of KFI, opened the event and said that the price of nutritionally balanced food can be up to 5 times that of food in general. KFI believes that food fortification is the cheapest and easiest way to help people increase their nutrient intake towards balanced nutritious consumption. Currently, the LSFF Coordination Forum has been established as a forum for all stakeholders to communicate to discuss the implementation and the problems we faced and find solutions together to achieve effective fortification program performance that can be monitored and evaluated measurably. The discussion began with a session on wheat flour fortification with moderator Prof Razak Thaha. He regretted the absence of an effectiveness study as one of the guidelines to convince the wheat flour industry that this fortification programme has a positive impact on society. Mrs Hera, from the Directorate of Nutrition and Maternal and Child Health said that the Ministry of Health has a big interest in the impact of this fortification. The Ministry of Health is working on making standards related to the amount of fortification. Currently, a micronutrient consumption survey is being conducted to determine the adequacy of micronutrients in the community. In the field of supervision, the wheat flour industry is experiencing problems. As stated by Mrs Herni from PT Bogasari, testing needs to be done in a standardised laboratory, accompanied by openness of supervisors to the industry. Regulations take turns, so the industry is busy making adjustments to the changes. Close coordination between relevant parties is needed to maximise the performance of the fortification programme.
Wheat flour fortification discussion session with Mrs Ir.Tetty H Sihombing as moderatorThen during the salt fortification session, Mr Raditya from the Directorate of Upstream Chemical Industry of the Ministry of Industry said that the need for salt in Indonesia in 2023 reached 4.9 million tonnes. The need for consumption is only about 700 tonnes, the rest is for industry. The challenge is to balance the price between local and imported salt. In managing the need for iodised salt, the Ministry of Industry collaborates with the Ministry of Marine and Fisheries and the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy, which hold a coordination forum related to salt issues. There are 9 salt SNIs (Indonesia National Standard), the latest being SNI 3556:2016 on mandatory fortification of iodised salt. However, there is no regulation to enforce this latest SNI. Representative from National Standardisation Agency (BSN), Mrs Latifa Dinar said that Presidential Decree (KEPPRES) No. 69/1994 on the Procurement of Iodised Salt has long been planned to be revised, which requires coordination between many related ministries/institutions. The difficulty of obtaining SNI makes small companies rely only on the circulation permit number from the local government. BPOM representative, Mrs Sondang Widya Estikasari, S.Si, Apt, MKM, stated the need for a different approach for each type of salt business including the understanding of the local government as the issuer of the permit. BPOM provides assistance, but the existing problems need to be resolved comprehensively so that media/channels are needed to make sure ministries and agencies can coordinate well for resolution.
Fortification of palm cooking oil (MGS) was the closing session of today's FGD. The problem is that around 70% of the oil in circulation is in bulk form which is not included in the mandatory fortification. This bulk MGS is consumed by low-income people, so fortification has not effectively reached the target. The representative of the Indonesian Edible Oil Industry Association (AIMMI), Mr Arief, suggested that to be more effective, the mandatory packaging of MGS should be implemented in stages, starting from the palm cooking oil industry in Java which is ready. But before that, it is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of the mandatory MGS SNI, whether the 45 IU fortificant level is really sufficient when it reaches consumers. During monitoring in circulation, there are often problems in the industry in determining the standard of vitamin A levels. Prof Drajat Martianto said that the determination of the 45 IU level in the factory was based on an impact study that showed effectiveness in raising serum vitamin A levels in respondents. Regarding the stability of vitamin A, the study results show that in the storage of oil in a closed place vitamin A is stable within 9 months, after which it begins to decline. On the other hand, the sales/consumption turnover of bulk MGS is less than one month. These questions indicate the need for information on monitoring and evaluation results. Fortification is an instrument that must be able to prove its benefits to the community. KFI is currently developing guidelines for M&E, to ensure that the effectiveness of MGS fortification can be measured starting from the production stage, circulation, to the impact on consumers.
In closing, Mr. Adhi S Lukman said that the FGD this time was more in-depth on regulation, monitoring, supervision, and synchronisation which would later become the subject of discussion in the PPP forum. Some important points in this FGD are that the industry is committed to food fortification, but an effectiveness study is also needed so that the industry gets clarity on its benefits. Standardised laboratories for SNI testing need to be more numerous, and various regulations on food fortification need harmonisation and synchronisation. (Rep:Rhm & Han; Ed: Roz & Elm)
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