Michelle Obama unveils food 'label of the future'

Google – AFP, Kerry Sheridan (AFP), 27 February 2014

US First Lady Michelle Obama speaks during an event in the East Room of

the White House February 27, 2014 in Washington (AFP, Brendan Smialowski)

Washington — In a country where obesity is rampant, First Lady Michelle Obama on Thursday aimed to make healthy choices easier for consumers by unveiling a series of proposed changes to food labels.

Calories, added sugars and more realistic serving information would feature more prominently on more than 700,000 products, in a revamp she described as the "label of the future."

"This will be the new norm in providing consumers with information about the food they buy," she said at a White House event. "So this is a huge deal."

The changes will likely take years to implement but administration officials said they hope that the first major overhaul of nutrition labels in two decades will give Americans new tools for fighting the battle of the bulge.

US First Lady Michelle Obama arrives during

an event in the East Room of the White House

 February 27, 2014 in Washington (AFP,

Brendan Smialowski)

- How much is a serving? -

If approved, the calorie count would be printed in a larger size than the rest, and a new line would detail "added sugars" -- not just total sugars.

The changes would also attempt to eliminate confusion about how many servings a container holds, and how many calories are in a serving.

Under the new proposal, if a soda is 20 ounces (0.6 liters), the calorie count on the label would reflect a 20 ounce soda.

Currently, the advertised calorie count is much lower, since it reflects just one serving, and in a 20 ounce soda there are 2.5 servings.

Single-packaged pastries, cookies and muffins also often say they contain two servings, which experts say can be misleading.

"You as a parent and a consumer should be able to walk into a grocery store, pick an item off the shelf, and tell whether it's good for your family," said Obama.

Labels would include mandatory potassium and vitamin D amounts for the first time.

Calories from fat would be eliminated, since health experts understand more today than they did 20 years ago about good and bad fats, administration officials said.

The proposals are open for a 90-day comment period and would likely take at least two years to implement.

For Obama, advocating healthy eating and exercise, particularly among young people, has been a centerpiece of her efforts, and Thursday also marked the fourth anniversary of her "Let's Move" campaign.

More than one third (35.7 percent) of Americans are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a trend that has remained steady among adults in recent years.

But new CDC data released earlier this week showed, for the first time, a steep 43 percent drop in obesity among the very young, aged two to five, signaling potential progress against the epidemic.

- High cost of obesity -

Some pushback over the labels is expected from the food industry, particularly regarding salt and sugar content.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association, an industry group, said it would work with the Food and Drug Administration, which is in charge of the process, but said any changes must "ultimately serve to inform, and not confuse, consumers."

US Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius speaks during

 an event in the East Room of the White House February 27, 2014 in Washington (AFP,

Brendan Smialowski)

The nutrition facts label has only undergone one update in two decades, and that was to add a line about trans fat content in 2006.

"Our goal here is to design a label that is easier to read and one that consumers can understand," said FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg.

The labels could help improve public health by reducing the risk of chronic health issues such as heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and stroke, which cost the United States around $150 billion a year.

"We realize the label alone won't magically change how Americans eat," but it aims to provide them with "the tools to be successful," Hamburg said.

Consumer health groups welcomed the changes, but some called on the FDA to go further by establishing recommended daily values for sugar and by lowering salt.

Ronald Tamler, clinical director of the diabetes center at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, called the proposal an important step towards helping American consumers make smart choices.

"Hopefully, the days of declaring half a cookie as one serving -- a common practice that can even fool nutrition experts -- will soon be behind us."

Major firms launch initiative to fight malnutrition in kids

Rangga D. Fadillah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 06/14/2011

The Indonesian government welcomed on Monday a public private partnership (PPP) initiative to fight malnutrition in Indonesian children called Project Laser Beam (PLB), which is supported by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and several globally renowned enterprises.

The secretary of the Office of the Coordinating People’s Welfare Minister, Indroyono Soesilo, said the initiative was critical to help the country end child hunger and poverty, particularly in East Nusa Tenggara and Papua, two of the poorest provinces.

“The government of Indonesia is committed to lifting people out of poverty and giving every Indonesian child a healthy start in life. PLB will kick off very soon under the coordination of my office,” he said at a press conference on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Jakarta.

He expressed his gratitude to Unilever, Kraft Foods, DSM and Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) as well as to three local companies — PT Tiga Pilar Sejahtera, GarudaFood and Indofood – for their participation in PLB.

“PLB is a creative new pillar in the fight to end child malnutrition, which we believe will be a major contributor to attain the Millennium Development Goals [MDGs],” said Indroyono who is also a candidate for the Food and Agriculture Organization’s director general for the 2012-2015 period.

PLB is a five-year, US$50 million project that aims to eradicate child malnutrition. The initial focuses of the initiative will be Indonesia and Bangladesh where child malnutrition rates are unacceptably high.

In Indonesia, more than 37 percent of under fives go to bed hungry, while in Bangladesh, the rate reaches 48 percent.

Pradeep Pant, Asia Pacific president director of Kraft Foods, said his company contributed around $10 million to the initiative. He elaborated that PLB would cover programs, such as teaching locals about sustainable farming, assisting them to create micro enterprises and providing nutrition education to mothers and children.

“In my opinion, this initiative is likely to succeed because it has three required pillars, which are sustainability, big scale and conducted repeatedly,” he said.

Unilever chief executive officer Paul Polman argued that participating in the initiative was very important for his company’s business. Ending child malnutrition and preparing children to be healthier and more prosperous in the future would be a way for the company to expand its market.

“Our business won’t work if the market doesn’t work,” he said.

The continued commitment of Unilever, Kraft Foods and several new local and international partners demonstrated confidence that the world was on the right track in fighting hunger in a new and innovative way, said the director for public policy, communications and private partnerships of WFP, Nancy Roman.

“When the government and businesses work together, we can do more than what we can do individually,” she said.

Severely malnourished infant found in Madura

Antara News, Saturday, May 22, 2010 17:59 WIB

Bangkalan, E Java (ANTARA News) - Anameli, a toddler in Bangkalan district on Maudura Island, East Java, has been found to be suffering from extreme malnourishment and in need of immediate hospitalization, a health worker said.

The two-year-old infant from Tengginan hamlet, Pataterongan village, Galis sub-district, Bangkalan district, was very thin, having a body weight of only 6.5 kilograms, Nur Aini said.

Speaking to newsmen here Saturday, Nur Aini of Syarifah Ambami Rato Ebu General Hospital said the ill-fated infant`s weight was only half that of a normal two-year old.

She said the weight of a normal two-year-old child was 12 kilograms.

When taken to the hospital, Anameli`s temperature was "high", and she often vomited and suffered from diarrhea, Nur Aini said.

The doctor`s diagnosis showed that the toddler was malnourished because her weight was only around six kilograms, she said.

The parents` carelessness might have contributed to Anameli`s malnourishment, she said.

However, referring to the case of seven-year-old Puji Astuti, daughter of Suryadi, 26, and Liah, 26, in West Java district of Bekasi, poverty had mainly contributed to Astuti`s malnourishment.

Due to her parents` poverty, Puji Astuti had been malnourished since eight months ago.

The daughter of residents of Jati Mulya village, Tambun Selatan sub-district, Bekasi district, West Java, only had a body weight of 10 kilograms.

Anameli and Puji Astuti are just two of millions of malnourished children in Indonesia.

According to World Vision Indonesia, a non-governmental organization which plays an active role in fighting malnutrition, more than five million Indonesian children are malnourished.

It said the malnutrition was an "iceberg phenomenon" in which the number of minor, moderate, and serious malnourished children is often far higher than those seen on television.

East Java is one of the Indonesian provinces, which remains vulnerable to the malnourishment cases.

The East Java province`s health authorities recently confirmed that 125 toddlers in Pacitan district were malnourished.

"The body weight of malnourished infants is lower than that of healthy ones`," Head of Pacitan district`s health office Wawan Kasiyanto said.

Since 2009, the Pacitan health workers had found that 1,221 infants had decreasing weights and 125 were identified as malnourished.

The normal growth of malnourished babies could be hampered so that they need extra-food packages containing sufficient vitamins and minerals, and medicines to strengthen their immunity system, he said.

One Child’s Hunger Just Tip of the Iceberg of Indonesian Malnutrition

Jakarta Globe, March 14, 2010

Cikarang, West Java. Eight months ago, 7-year-old Puji began a battle with acute malnutrition, a condition that her family’s poverty makes nearly impossible to address. She now weighs just 10 kilograms, less than half the average healthy weight for her age, according to a growth chart from the US-based National Center for Health.

“Now she cannot even digest food normally,” her father, Suryadi, 26, said during an interview at the family’s house in the village of Jati Mulya in Bekasi, West Java, on Saturday.

Suryadi said he was deeply concerned about his daughter’s condition. Puji appeared to be weak and had difficulty moving as she remained on her bed.

He said Puji’s mother, Liah, 26, would spend hours feeding her daughter daily with porridge and powdered milk.

He said despite the child’s dire condition, they lacked the funds needed to pay for medical care.

Liah said she and her husband work as vegetable vendors, earning between Rp 50,000 ($5.45) and Rp 100,000 on their busiest days — not nearly enough for a hospital stay.

Ropi, the head of Jati Mulya, said he had provided the family with an official letter confirming their low-income status for hospital discounts, and promised to pay for Puji’s treatment at the Bekasi Public Hospital.

According to World Vision Indonesia, a nongovernmental organization tackling malnutrition, Puji is just one of more than five million Indonesian children suffering from malnutrition.

The group calls it an “iceberg phenomenon,” meaning the actual number of malnourished children is much higher than treatment statistics indicate.

Antara

First Lady calls for intensified Posyandu activities

Antara News, Tuesday, December 29, 2009 20:07 WIB

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - First Lady Ani Yudhoyono has asked members of the Family Welfare and Empowerment (PKK) team to intensify the activities of integrated health posts (Posyandu).

"Intensify innovative activities (of Posyandu) in accordance with local conditions," she said when visiting Matahari II posyandu at Lubang Buaya , Cipayung sub district, East Jakarta, Tuesday.

The First Lady was accompanied by Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih, Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo, National PKK Team Chief Vita Gamawan Fauzi, Jakarta`s PKK Team Tatiek Fauzi Bowo and members of the United Indonesia Cabinet Ministers` Wives Solidarity (SIKIB).

She said around 50 percent of Posyandu`s health funds was contributed by the public.

Meanwhile, the health minister reported that the number of Posyandus had increased from 232,000 in 2004 to 267,000 in 2007.

The maternal mortality rate in 2007 had dropped to 228 per 100 thousand and would continue to be cut to 118 per 100 thousand live births by 2015.

The mortality rate is expected to be reduced from 34 per 1000 live births in 2007 to 24 per 1000 live births in 2015.

"And the number of malnourished infants will be down from 18.4 percent in 2007 to less than 15 percent in 2015," the health minister said.

RI kids underweight, with stunted growth

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 10/15/2009 8:06 PM

Thirty percent of Indonesia’s children are underweight and have a lower-than-average height for their age, mostly because of early childhood malnutrition, an expert says.

Ahmad Syafiq, who chairs the center for nutrition studies at the University of Indonesia (UI) in Jakarta, said on Thursday that those numbers were too high.

“The cases of underweight children with a lower-than-average height for their age is not a matter of genetics, but primarily of malnutrition,” Syafiq said, as quoted by state news agency Antara, at a forum in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi.

He suggested that the government’s budget to address malnutrition facing children and women was too low.

A UI study reported that 50 percent of the women in the country suffered from anemia, which Syafiq said would put their fetus at risk during pregnancy and endanger them during delivery.

More Children with Malnutrition in Donggala

Monday, 09 February, 2009 | 15:25 WIB 

TEMPO Interactive, Palu: The Donggala Regency has the highest amount of malnutrition cases in Central Sulawesi, amounting to 102 out of 271 people throughout Central Sulawesi. 

Head of the Basic Health Division at the Regional Health Office in Central Sulawesi, Yudiawati Vidiana, said last weekend that the malnutrition cases were like the phenomenon of icebergs. 

There could be many more cases that are not registered in the field than it are recorded. 

DARLIS

Indonesian National Health Day Highlighted by Praiseworthy Statistics

The Jakarta Globe, Fidelis E. Satriastanti & Sally Piri, 19 December 2008

Indonesia has seen its maternal mortality rate drop by more than 25 percent in the past five years while cases of malnutrition also went down from 7.2 percent in 2004 to 5.4 percent three years later, Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said on Friday. 

Fadilah credited the improvement to better health services, as individuals, the community, the private sector and regional administrations increasingly cooperated to support the national health program. 

“The awareness, the will and the ability to live a healthy life must be possessed by all citizens,” Siti said at a ceremony marking National Health Day. 

She said that some of the “quite meaningful achievements in health service,” included the improving maternal mortality rate, or the number of women dying in childbirth, a lower malnourishment percentage and a higher life expectancy. 

The maternal mortality rate, she said, has fallen from 307 per 100,000 live births in 2002 to 228 in 2007. 

The malnourishment figure for the country had decreased from 7.2 percent in 2004 to 5.4 percent last year. 

She also said that according to the State-run Central Bureau of Statistics, life expectancy rate in the country during the period of 2005 to 2010 will be 69.8 years, and further rise to 71.5 years y 2015. 

Ruslidjah, a retired midwife with 35 years of experience, said that significant changes have been made in maternity health care over the past four decades. 

“Now, we have much more educated midwives rather than in the 1960s,” she said. 

Ruslidjah, said that there were only 10,000 midwives in 1975, but now, numbers had increased to 100,000 midwives. “Midwives, nowadays, are graduating from diploma programs,” she said. “It means they have better analytical capabilities regarding pregnancies.” 

She said higher maternal mortality rates in the past were caused by parochial practices. 

“There were lots of factors linked to that issue, for instance, poverty and culture,” she said. “Women, at that time, did not have the power to make their own decisions.” 

She said that maternity hospitals had become very popular with mothers. “In my era, we could handle just 50 births a day, but now, public hospitals do not handle that many cases anymore.” 

Speaking at the same ceremony, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the government would continue to prioritize health program for Indonesians, by intensifying basic health facilities and expanding health insurance for the poor. 

Better health conditions, he said, would lead to an increase in the Human Development Index and a better life expectancy rate. 

“We will make medicines more available and affordable by providing generic medicines,” said Yudhoyono, who was accompanied first lady Ani Bambang Yudhoyono. 

He said that for the last three years, the government has been concentrating on building hospitals and provide better health care to the isolated areas of the country. 

Yudhoyono said that the government will also continue to improve the quality of medical workers in the country, to provide citizens better health services. 

“Let us continue to expand public health insurance and make it more effective,” he said.

Nutrition awareness pilot project succeed in educating the poor

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 11/22/2008 12:55 PM  

Residents in Kalibaru, North Jakarta, said a pilot nutrition and health awareness project aimed at abolishing malnutrition helped them understand how to live healthier lifestyles. 

"My family always washes their hands before eating, and I also learned to allocate my money to buy nutritious ingredients rather than spending it on snacks," a housewife, Uus, told The Jakarta Post Friday. 

She was one of the 2,500 Kalibaru residents taking part in the pilot project organized by the Indonesian Poor People's Union (SRMI) and the Directorate of Community Nutrition at The Health Ministry. They launched the project on Oct. 24. 

The pilot project ended Friday in Kalibaru with an event attended by Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari. 

SRMI executive Marlo Sitompul said the Rp 1 billion (US$83,000) pilot project targeted over 16,000 people in Jakarta's slum areas in 52 subdistricts.

The fund is being used to build communication posts to distribute free nutritious meals every Friday. The fund is also being used to administer one-day intensive training programs to canteen owners at the project's locations on how to properly prepare and cook nutritious meals. 

The trainers are all nutrition experts appointed by the Health Ministry. 

"After the training, I know how to prepare nutritious foods for my family and customers," a canteen owner, Sumini, said. 

Sumini said she learned the proper cooking and food processing methods, including how to make sure the water she used to steam rice was properly boiled. She also learned about balanced diets. 

Despite the positive impacts to the residents' lifestyles, the project experienced some setbacks. Some residents claimed that although their names were on the list of people eligible for free meals, they never received the promised packages. 

"My family never received a free meal, despite the fact that my kids were the first on the list," a resident, Dodo, said. 

She said she expected the project to implement a better distribution system in the future. They really should prioritize the poorer residents, she added. 

Other residents said they also needed free multi-vitamins, especially for babies, the elderly and pregnant women. 

Marlo said the SRMI had done its best to ensure that all listed residents received their free meals, but the project had a limited budget and supply. 

"In some cases, some five-member families only received two boxes of free meals. In such cases, we encouraged the parents to prioritize their children," he said. 

Despite the setbacks, SRMI coordinator Dika M.N. said he hoped that with the pilot project's current success, the Health Ministry would consider putting the project on its agenda and launch it not only in Jakarta, but also in other provinces. 

Five severe malnutrition cases are listed in Kalibaru, according to SRMI. Just last week, 400 toddlers were reported as severely malnourished in Depok, Greater Jakarta. 

In Indonesia, it is calculated that over 4 million children under the age of five were malnourished in 2007. Most malnutrition cases are caused by poverty and the families' inability to provide nutritious food for their children. 

The government has yet to list the actual number of malnourished children in 2008, but according to Ina Hernawati from the Health Ministry, approximately 4 to 5 percent of children under five are malnourished. (hdt)

Five people die of malnutrion in NTT

Yemris Fointuna , The Jakarta Post , Kupang | Sat, 03/08/2008 1:27 AM

At least five people, including three aged under five, died recently from malnutrition in Rote Ndao, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), following government "financial difficulties".

Head of the Rote Ndao health office Jonathan Lenggu said the victims suffered from complications such as diarrhea, tuberculosis and high fever that led to their deaths.

"Malnourished people are quite prone to diseases such as diarrhea, TB and dengue because they have low immunity," he said Thursday.

Lenggu said three of the victims died this week and two last week, but gave no other details.

Head of health issues at the provincial government, Maxi Taopan, said the five dead had been suffering from malnutrition for a long time, but the local government had not been able to respond immediately because of a "financial problem".

"After the central government ended financial assistance in 2007, malnutrition has become uncontrollable. Still, the province has proposed an allocation of Rp 56 billion to address the issue," he said.

He called on the coordinating minister for people's welfare to visit the regency to assess poverty and malnutrition.

"If the government accepts our request, we will use the funds to supply food to poor families and revitalize women's and children's health posts in rural areas across the province," he said.

Up to 90,000 of the 497,577 children aged under five in the province are suffering from malnutrition, and 12,400 have had complications, according to the provincial government's 2008 data.

Taopan said the highest number of malnutrition sufferers with clinical disorders was found in North Timor Tengah, with 81 patients being treated in clinics and hospitals, followed by 27 in West Sumba and 13 in Rote Ndao.

"The highest frequency is in South Timor Tengah with 12,971 sufferers, followed by more than 8,400 in Sikka, 8,300 in Manggarai, 7,200 in North Timor Tengah and 6,800 in Kupang," he said.

Thousands Yogya children malnourished

Slamet Susanto The Jakarta Post Yogyakarta

Two thousand children under five in Yogyakarta -- one percent of an estimated population of 200,000 -- suffer from severe malnutrition or marasmus while 20,000 others, or ten percent, are malnourished, a local official has revealed.

Chief of the Yogyakarta provincial health office Bondan Agus Suryanto said severe malnutrition could be caused by infections diseases such as tuberculosis and intestinal worms but that poverty was the main factor.

He acknowledged that compared to a national index of 8.1 percent the number of marasmus sufferers in the province was low, but he said he hoped it would be remedied "as soon as possible."

To overcome the problem, he said his office had provided medical care through the Jamkesos social health insurance program and promoted a foster-care program for toddlers, which handled 59 cases last year.

He predicted numbers of sufferers would rise this year due to people's low buying power and rising costs of food and other basic necessities.

Spokesman for Sardjito Hosptial Heru Trisno Nugroho said he was shocked by the eight cases of severe malnutrition the hosptial had treated so far this year.

"In 2007 there were 37 patients, but already in the first month of this year there have been eight patients."

Another problem was whether or not patients could meet their daily nutrition needs after being released. "It is national policy not to charge people (in cases like these). The question is how patients will get the nutrition they need after they're released, keeping in mind most people are facing a rough time right now," said Heru who believed the malnutrition cases were linked to soaring prices of basic commodities.

Sardjito patients such as one-year-old Ria Ariani, from Nglendah, Kulonprogo, come from poor families. Both her parents work as farm hands.

"Medical treatment is free but patients' relatives have to pay for transportation and food," said Ria's mother, Ponijah.

Ponijah said she that to buy medicine she had to sell one of her cows as well as borrow Rp 700,000 (approximately US$77) from relatives.

According to Mari Astuti, a food technology and nutrition expert from Gadjah Mada University, a diet with more raw bananas and tubers would be a good alternative rice, tempeh and tofu.

"Bananas and tubers are plentiful in the province, they cost less ... and contain nutrients and as many calories as rice and soybeans.

The problem, she said, was whether the government had the will to promote this message so people would change their minds about alternative diets.

Mari said babies should be breast-fed for at least six months after birth to insure maximum immunity levels.

She also recommended porridges made from bananas and tuber flour.

PKK told to help erase poverty

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Home Minister Mardiyanto is calling for more involvement from the Family Welfare Movement (PKK) in poverty eradication, in an apparent effort to revive the family welfare program that flourished in the past.

"We have provided the legal umbrella for the movement by allocating funds in the regional budget," Mardiyanto said during the commemoration of the 35th United Welfare Movement Day at the office of the Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday.

He suggested that the organization endorse small-scale family businesses through its 10 welfare programs, with full support by the government.

"We also must pay careful attention to adapting quickly and properly to the rapid changes globalization is bringing to Indonesia," the minister added.

He praised the recent PKK initiative of planting 1 million trees nationwide as the kind of response the country needed to tackle current problems in development.

PKK, an organization committed to improving the welfare of families around the country, functioned at its peak during the Soeharto era, with members consisting of the wives of government officials.

The wife of the Home Minister, Effi Mardiyanto, who currently chairs the PKK executive board, said that she expected the organization to show more commitment as the government's partner in development.

"Let us bring a touch of compassion to our nation's work, so we can develop in the spirit of professionalism and commitment," she said.

Effi also asked members from PKK's regional branches who attended the ceremony to look back in history to learn more about what they would do for the future.

"Our initial intention was to empower the community and improve the welfare of the people, and this should be upheld. We must keep this in mind when we plan our programs in the coming years."

The movement was initiated by the wife of a governor of Central Java, Isriati Moenadi, after she witnessed the heart-break of widespread malnutrition in the country in 1967.

United Welfare Movement Day is celebrated annually on Dec. 27, marking the day in 1972 when the organization spread its wings nationally, after it legally changes its name from "Family Welfare Education" to "Family Welfare Movement".

During the 35th celebration of that day, the Home Minister handed out achievement awards to 82 members of the organization for their service.

Organization members who have served for 25 years were presented with the Adhi Bhakti Utama Award, while the Adhi Bhakti Madya Award was presented to 66 members with 15 years of involvement. (lva)

Thousands of toddlers suffer from malnutrition in Yogyakarta

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Poverty and ignorance are being blamed by officials in Yogyakarta province for the high number of children under the age of five who are malnourished.

"It is very concerning to see so many of these babies suffering from malnutrition have beautiful, healthy mothers. This is often the case here," head of the provincial health office, Bondan Agus Suryanto, said.

Speaking during the launch of the Nutrition Corner program, sponsored by milk producer PT Frisian Flag Indonesia (FFI), at the Piyungan community health center in Bantul, Bondan said there were more than 2,200 toddlers in the province suffering from malnutrition.

This figure represents more than 1 percent of the total number of under-five children in Yogyakarta.

"That excludes the babies who suffer from nutritional deficiencies," said Bondan, emphasizing that malnutrition remained a major problem in Yogyakarta, which has one of the highest life expectancies in the country.

More than 40 percent of pregnant women in the province suffer from anemia, which in turn leads to the birth of babies suffering health problems and nutritional deficiencies, Bondan said.

Secretary-general of the Association of Indonesian Nutritionists, Edith Sumedi, said malnutrition remained a major health issue that demanded the attention of all related parties.

"In many cases, it is indeed a lack of knowledge about nutrition, especially among mothers, which accounts for the problem," said Edith.

She said not all cases of malnutrition were related to poverty.

"We therefore welcome the initiative of the FFI for this cooperation, to share our knowledge and expertise with mothers who need information about nutrition through the Nutrition Corner program," Edith said.

Speaking separately at the launch, PT FFI corporate affairs director Hendro Harijogi Poedjono said Nutrition Corners were being simultaneously launched at four community health centers in Bantul and Yogyakarta municipality.

"This is basically a continuation of our Frisian Flag Peduli program to help the survivors of the 2006 earthquake fully recover from the disaster," said Hendro.

He said a similar Nutrition Corner program had earlier been started at 10 community health centers in Greater Jakarta.

With the support of the Association of Indonesian Nutritionists, he said the Nutrition Corner program would provide free consultations on nutrition.

The program will also offer small seminars and cooking demonstrations.