Our food industry tends to only use one type of raw material in producing a product.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The National Food Agency (NFA) has urged the public to eat diverse types of food to meet the requirement of consuming 40 important nutrients for staying healthy, active, and productive.

"In fact, no single type of food contains (all) the 40 nutrients, thus we have to eat a variety of foods," NFA's Director for Food Consumption Diversification Rinna Syawal told ANTARA here on Friday.

The diversification of food consumption would be in accordance with the mandate of Law Number 18 of 2012 regarding Food. The attempt is expected to be implemented based on local wisdom.

Indonesia has 77 types of carbohydrate-rich foods, Syawal noted. In addition, 75 types of protein-rich foods, 228 types of vegetables, and up to 389 types of fruits are available in the country.

She urged the Indonesian people to not rely on rice as their staple food since there are several other potential carbohydrate-rich foods.

To achieve this end, the agency has continued to invite local governments to campaign for the diversification of food consumption using various food commodity potentials in their respective regions to realize self-sufficiency and food security.

Syawal said that there are a number of challenges to scaling up the implementation of the Diverse, Nutritiously Balanced, and Safe (B2SA) Meal Program, including the community’s perception of healthy food as expensive and limited access to various alternative staple foods.

"Our food industry tends to only use one type of raw material in producing a product,” she noted.

For instance, most of the producers only use wheat for making flour, although cassava, bananas, and sago can also be used for the purpose, she said.

Hence, NFA has continued to promote and disseminate information about the B2SA Meal Program through mass and social media as well as increase cross-sectoral collaboration with the general public, educational institutions, and public figures to campaign for the program.

The director said that the agency is also trying to apply diversification in the domestic food industry by involving local micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to make food products using local resources as the main ingredients.

It is also drafting a presidential regulation regarding local resource-based and local wisdom-based food diversification programs.

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Translator: Kuntum Riswan, Uyu Liman
Editor: Sri Haryati
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