BBPOM: Food Safety is Important to Prevent Stunting

The Food and Drug Monitoring Center (BBPOM) in Jakarta collaborates with the Jakarta Health Agency (Dinkes) to hold Communication, Information and Education (KIE) activities regarding food safety and fortified food.

Pregnant women, elderly people, and children are at higher risk of foodborne illness

Activities are conducted at several integrated health service posts (Posyandu) in the areas of Central Jakarta, South Jakarta, North Jakarta, and West Jakarta from June 24 to 26, 2024, with the target of intervention for pregnant women and parents of babies/toddlers. This activity is held in the context of implementing the Simultaneous Stunting Prevention Intervention (ISPS) which will be implemented in June 2024.

Jakarta BBPOM Head, Sofiyani Chandrawati Anwar said food security is one of the risk factors for stunting. According to him, contaminated food can cause a person to experience foodborne illness, causing problems with food absorption which will ultimately affect nutritional intake.

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"Pregnant women, elderly people, and children are at higher risk of foodborne illness," she expressed.

She explained Food Fortification is the addition of one or more micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) to food to accelerate the improvement of children's nutrition, such as adding iodine to salt, vitamin A to palm cooking oil, and vitamins B1, B2, iron, zinc, and folic acid in wheat flour.

Then the government imposed provisions on three mandatory food fortification products, namely salt, wheat flour, and palm cooking oil as an effort to accelerate nutritional improvements.

"These micronutrients play an important role in fetal development and the child's growth and development process," she added.

As for the information, stunting is a disruption in the growth and development of children due to chronic malnutrition and recurrent infections, which is characterized by height below standard.

ISPS is a joint simultaneous action to prevent stunting through data collection, assistance, weighing, measurement, education, validation, and intervention for all prospective brides, pregnant women, and toddlers on an ongoing basis.

Through this KIE activity, it is hoped that the community, especially pregnant women and toddlers, can pay more attention to nutritional intake and can become smart consumers in choosing safe and nutritious food. Always implement CEK KLIK (Cek Kemasan (Check Packaging), Label, Izin Edar (Distribution Permit), and Kedaluwarsa (Expiration)) every time you buy or consume food.