Rice Fortification with Iron to address Anaemia
Q. Due to development of recent technology which of the following will be fortified with iron?- Published on 25 Nov 16a. Rice
b. Wheat
c. Pulses
d. Milk
ANSWER: Rice
The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) through R&D support to IIT, Kharagpur has developed the requisite technology on the fortification with Iron for addressing the incidence of anaemia.
This involves production of Iron fortified rice premix through extrusion process using broken rice kernels.
This iron fortified rice kernel premix matches with the normal rice kernel in shape and size, and when mixed with normal rice in the ratio of 1:100 provides 50% of recommended daily allowance (RDA) of Iron.
This technology can also be used to fortify rice with other micro nutrients, as well.
The incremental cost of fortification has been estimated by IIT-Kharagpur to be up to 80 paise per kg of rice.
The Government will be taking forward the rice fortification model to all parts of the country to deal with nutritional deficiency among the women and children.
