MANILA, Philippines - Ecofoods Corp., the exclusive distributor of baby food Promina, has announced that its products — Promina instant porridge and Promina baby cereal — now have the Sangkap Pinoy seal by the Department of Health.
Part of the government’s food fortification program under the Philippine Food Fortification Act of 2000, the Sangkap Pinoy seal certifies that a product has the right nutritional value for the Filipino child such that it is enriched with essential micronutrients like vitamin A and iron.
The World Health Organization (WHO) regional office for Europe recommends “mothers worldwide to exclusively breastfeed infants for the child’s first six months to achieve optimal growth, development, and health. Thereafter, they should be given nutritious complementary foods and continue breastfeeding up to the age two years or beyond.”
“Vitamin A and iron play a big role in the nutrition of children in general,” says Felicidad V. Velandria, past vice president of the Nutritionist Dietitians’ Association of the Philippines. “Case studies show that lack of these micronutrients leads to under-height and under-weight children age 0–5 in the Philippines. Such cases are bound to increase if parents remain unaware of the cause and how to prevent this occurrence.”
Besides supporting the food fortification program, Promina also aims to address the country’s malnutrition crisis which, according to the Food and Nutrition Research Institute, affects over seven million children age five and below.
Most Filipino children are fed porridge (lugaw) during their weaning stage. But parents are unaware of the meal’s lack of nutrients. They also see complementary food as expensive and not important to a child’s diet.
Promina instant porridge and Promina baby cereal are ideal food supplements with their Sangkap Pinoy seal. They are affordable products with a wide range of flavors that help complete a child’s nutritional needs.