Swadesh Jagran Manch opposes Ready-to-Use foods for malnutrition.

New Delhi, Nov 22: Pitching for proper nutrition and basic health care for malnourished children, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) on Tuesday opposed Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF) for children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and alleged “conflict of interest” with manufacturers who were behind the move to push the programme.
Referring to a move that came out of the Prime Minister’s Office which left the decision to state governments for implementing RUTF, the SJM, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said it would not be prudent to leave the decision to states.
“In India, the global collaborative Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement has tied up with Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand to promote therapeutic food as a solution to malnourishment. Pilot projects have been taken in the three states and in Bihar,’’ SJM national co-convener Ashwini Mahajan said in the letter.
“ SUN has clear conflict of interest having RUTF manufacturers like Amul, Valid Nutrition, Nutriset and Edesia as members of the SUN Business Network. Other food industry in SUN Business Network include Pepsi, Cargill, Britannia, Unilever, General Mills, Glaxo SKB, Mars, Indofood, Nutrifood and DSM. (However), against the backdrop of the decision taken by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Women and Child Development that RUFT is not to be used for children with severe malnutrition, it would not be prudent to leave the decision to states,’’ the letter said.
“We do feel that this will allow as an entry point of all `nutrition products’ , be it for moderate or mild mal-nourishment. This situation will only lead to erosion of our national sustainability and self-sufficiency with no value for money for our human resource and capital. If we cannot give basic foods and health care to the deprived, commercially vested products will not solve the problem,’’ the letter said.
The SJM believes that states do not have the requisite technical capacity and are potentially susceptible to the vested influence of international agencies and the commercial sector.
“This is a game changing mission of (ready-to-use) food industry to introduce RUTF as a life saving magic bullet, which it is not,’’ it said.