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Ministry to expand scope of food fortification; forms panel
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Wednesday, 28 January, 2026, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Ashwani Maindola, New Delhi
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The Union Ministry of Health is planning to expand the scope of food fortification and is actively deliberating on the same. It is learnt that the ministry through FSSAI has held several meetings and even constituted a committee for evaluating the course of action.
Currently, FSSAI allows fortification of two food products - edible oil and milk with Vitamin D and even made regulations regarding F+ logo to support the fortification drive, along with establishment of Food Fortification Resource Centre, which helps in technical assistance, guidance, and capacity building support for the adoption and scaling of food fortification efforts.
“In spite of these initiatives, there are some gaps in food fortification, such as only edible oil and milk are permitted to be fortified with Vitamin D, fortification is voluntary in nature and only plant-based sources of Vitamin D are allowed. These limit the impact of food fortification in addressing Vitamin D deficiency,” said Dr. Arpita Mukherjee, professor, ICRIER.
Dr. Mukherjee suggests that permitting a wider range of products to be fortified with Vitamin D from both plant-based and animal-based sources, mandating fortification in select healthy products, strengthening research and innovation in fortification, defining high fat sugar and salt (HFSS) foods, raising awareness & building consumer trust, improving effective monitoring to enhance fortification impact, integrating fortified food into dietary guidelines, and providing capacity-building and training to MSMEs on fortification, are some of the key actions which FSSAI may undertake to support food fortification projects.
Meanwhile, a UNICEF (2023) report has identified suitable food vehicles for fortification which include wheat flour, maize flour, salt, oil and milk wherein apart from vitamin D other vitamins and minerals fortification can be done.
However, there is a confusion among the consumers about fortified foods.
Dr. Mukherjee says that there are two FSSAI Regulations, one on fortification [Food Safety and Standards (Fortification of Food) Regulation, 2018] and other on claims [Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulation 2018].
“Claim regulation allows enrichment, and many food products are now enriched with Vitamin D. Enrichment and fortification are two different processes, but there is a need for fortification of healthy foods and foods in our daily diet. A recent policy brief by ICRIER-ANVKA Foundation provided a roadmap for fortification targeted to reduce Vitamin D deficiency. It also suggested that FSSAI can revive its industry partnership initiatives like “Eat Right India” to create awareness and promote food fortification. MSME may be supported through capacity building and incentive to fortify,” said Dr. Mukherjee.
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