STA. FE, Nueva Vizcaya, March 6 (PIA) –To step-up the enforcement of the Act for Salt Iodization Nationwide (ASIN) law, the National Nutrition Council Region 2 (NNC-2) has initiated the reactivation of the task force ASIN in the region.

The newly created Task force includes all local government units (LGUs), Bureau of Foods and Drugs, Department of Health, Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Philippine National Police, Philippine Information Agency, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Science and Technology, and Department of Environment and Natural Resources, while NNC serves as advisory and coordinating agency.

The task force was created when Cagayan Valley was noted with high rate of iodine deficiency. The task force was then very active in the efforts to eradicate iodine deficiency but after years of activation, when iodine deficiency scaled down, some of its members as well as the installed checkpoints for salt testing became inactive.

Rhodora G. Maestre, nutrition program coordinator of Region 2, explained that the task force created then became lax in some of its strategies before such as the checkpoints in the entry and exit points of the region to ensure all salt imported in the region are iodized because they were already successful in instilling to the minds of the salt producers that region 2 does not accept not iodized salt.

“We used to send back truckloads of salt not iodized that is why there was a time that the checkpoints we installed had no longer confiscations because all salts coming in were already iodized,” Maestre stated.

However, she said that the task force needs reactivation to continue to operate the checkpoints as well as to implement the provisions of the law to maintain and sustain the right iodine intake of the people in Region 2.

She stated that the task force will again do massive salt testing in the market to check whether the salts sold to the public are really iodized aside from assigning trained personnel in the checkpoint areas.

“This time, it is no longer mere testing whether the salt has iodine content or none. We need to check the content level of iodine in the salts sold to the public using an iodine checker,” Maestre said.

According to Edward Otico of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) Philippines, the government is determined to achieve universal salt iodization of 90 percent households utilizing adequately iodized salt or at least 15 ppm. For Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), the standard iodine content of a salt should reach 20-70 ppm.

Otico said GAIN Philippines will be giving WYD Iodine Checker equipment which will reveal how much iodine content a salt sample has.