Trust the ‘process-ed’?

If one has been following the news on Food and Nutrition recently, one will discover that one recurring conversation has to do with “demonizing” the processed food manufacturers; making their industry look like the culprits for all the dietary ills that beset the world.

- PHILIP CU UNJIENG

Obesity, stunting, malnutrition, micronutrient deficiencies - let’s just dump them all at the doorsteps of this industry, as they’re an easy target. Often, they’re publicly-listed multi-national conglomerates; and when one is preaching natural and organic, or promoting chemical and synthetic/ extender-free, they can easily be made to look like the ‘Big Bad Wolf’ of the global food supply chain.

I had the chance to talk to Dr. Mario Capanzana, current executive director of the Philippine Chamber of Food Manufacturers, Inc (PCEMI), which represents more than 100 of the bigger food manufacturers here in the country. Dr. Capanzana was formerly the head of the DOST-FNRI (Department of Science and Technology, Food and Nutrition Research Institute), and was a presidential Lingkod Bayan Awardee in 2016. He was then cited for helping institutionalize the Malnutrition Reduction Program (MRP) and the adoption of the DOST Pinoy and Nutrition Education Intervention; plus for his R&D in Nutrigenomics, Infant and Young Child Nutrition, and his work on food and rice fortification.