New Delhi, Nov 25 , 2017 : India today is the largest producer of milk, with approx. 160 million Metric tons per annum the per capita availability of Milk today is approx. 357 ml which would not have been possible without the White revolution. All this would not have been possible without Dr. Kurien – The Milk Man of India and Architect of the Operations flood. He engineered the cooperative movement in India which has benefited Millions of Farmers. Milk is a complete food and is a good carrier of Vitamin A and Vitamin D. However due to the processing needs and the current insufficiency / deficiency in the population not enough of these vitamins are delivered through food. The deficiency is widespread and 70 – 90 % of the population is either insufficient or deficient in Vitamin A and D. As a result fortification of Milk can act as a complementary strategy and help reduce this gap and can act as a vehicle to carry Vitamin A and Vitamin D. FSSAI rolled out recommendations for fortifying Skimmed Milk, Double Toned Milk, Toned Milk and standardised milk with 770 IU of Vitamin A and 550 IU of Vitamin D per litre of Milk. The fortification will help provide 15 – 30 % of the daily requirement for these Vitamins. National level consultations were conducted to make the industry aware of the standards and were requested to take up the fortification of Milk for public good. Taking this initiative forward development partners like TATA Trusts have supported the states like Jharkhand and Assam to start the fortification of their Milk variants. Mother Dairy took initiative to fortify its complete range and today sells about 25 LLPD (Lac Litres per Day) of fortified Milk. Today including mother dairy 5 more states and a couple of private dairies are already fortifying milk totalling to 10 % of the total 410 LLPD fortifiable Milk in the country. Another 5 states are in advance stages to launch the fortified milk in next 2 months which will take the total fortified milk to 20 % of the 410 LLPD. With this the fortified milk will reach about 50 Million people in the country. TATA Trusts has also collaborated with World Bank and NDDB to take this initiative forward in the Cooperative sector. The plan is to fortify about 50 % of the milk by 2019 and 80 % by 2021. The Landscape analysis of the Private dairies is being done by Tata Trusts and very soon the campaign will start to include them in this good ca use for public health improvement. Many states have taken the initiative to provide a glass of milk to school children to improve their nutrition and we have extended our fortification drive to this sweetened and flavoured Milk for children which is now get ting fortified with Vitamin A and Vitamin D to provide them with these micronutrients in addition to the goodness of Milk.

Fortification is a complementary strategy to build the nation and provide nutrition security to the population of the country. By pr oviding the right nutrition to the children lets contribute to building a healthy Nation.

For More detail visit: http://www.fssai.gov.in/home/WhatsNewAll.html