Govt told to control supply of non-iodized salt
Govt told to control supply of non-iodized salt
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government needs to help boost production of iodized salt and control the supply of non-iodized salt for consumption on the market if it wants to achieve its Universal Salt Iodization (USI) target, said a statement issued by participants of a seminar on iodized salt production.
The statement was issued on Friday at the conclusion of a two- day seminar on iodized salt organized the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) in cooperation with the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) and attended by officials from the trade ministry, home ministry, health ministry, the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) and several regencies, as well as representatives from the Association of Consumable Iodized Salt Producers (Aprogakob).
Participants called on the government to assist iodized salt producers in enhancing their production capacity, as well as their marketing and distribution network.
"Draft a special strategy to meet people's demand for iodized salt, which is still beyond reach (for most Indonesians)," the statement said.
The seminar participants also urged the government to improve the people's awareness on the importance of iodized salt, while monitoring distribution to ensure that household salt contains an adequate amount of iodine.
Iodine is needed by the human body to produce the thyroid hormone, the lack of which can result in the enlargement of the thyroid gland, a condition known as goiter.
The lack of iodine also affects brain cell development, and iodine deficiency among pregnant women, infants and children may result in mental retardation, low IQ and psychomotor disorders.
At the end of last year, 68.5 percent of the country's population of 215 million were consuming iodized salt, only a slight increase from 65.18 percent in 1998.
The salt industry currently produces two kinds of salt -- iodized salt for household consumption and the food industry, and non-iodized salt for industrial use, such as in the production of leather and caustic soda.
Raw materials are mostly obtained from traditional salt farmers, supplemented by imported salt. While imported salt is easier to monitor, this is not the case with the salt harvested by salt farmers. Non-iodized salt from traditional sources has been leaking into the household market segment, particularly when iodized salt supplies could not meet the demand for table salt.
As strict supervision of the salt industry was essential to stop the leakage of non-iodized salt into the household market segment, the government was urged to enforce the suppression of non-iodized salt production.
Existing regulations on salt production, such as Presidential Decree No. 69/1994 and Ministry of Industry and Trade Decree No. 77/1995, delineate no clear sanctions against violators.
Unicef and the World Health Organization (WHO) have set 2005 as the target for global eradication of iodine deficiency disorders (IDD).
One of the main objectives of the IDD eradication campaign is to increase the world's consumption of iodized salt to 90 percent by 2005. Indonesia has endorsed the program since its initiation.