Nation to have new national nutrition guideline
JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, in cooperation with nutritional experts, is set to launch a revised national nutrition guideline in an effort to encourage people to eat properly with an alternative main dish, besides rice.
"In the revised guideline, we'll design a diet according to specific food sources in each region, especially for those in eastern Indonesia," Soekirman, chief of the food and nutrition policy unit at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) told a media briefing on Thursday.
"We have been talking about food diversification since the 1970s but the government never really supported encouraging alternative main dishes besides rice," he asserted.
Winarno, also a food expert from IPB, said a good and healthy diet should contain at least 37 kinds of food every day.
"Why? Because it is impossible for one type of food to fulfill the body's nutritional needs. The more diversified the daily menu, the better," he remarked.
Professor Soekirman pointed at the misleading government policy that has caused people to value rice more than other secondary crops such as tuber/root, wheat and corn.
"In Irian Jaya, tuber is the main meal. Previously, Irianese did not eat rice, but Java migrants brought the habit of eating rice and there is an image that rice is better than other main dishes. This is an incorrect approach," Soekirman said.
"People living in the regions should be given freedom to decide the main food according to regional conditions. And it doesn't have to be rice," he added.
People in most regions in eastern Indonesia do not eat rice, he said.
"In this revised concept, we want to promote the view that secondary crops are as good and healthy as rice.
"We will start introducing the concept in kindergarten where pupils are given foods prepared from crops such as kacang ijo (mung bean), oat meal, cassava or corn," Soekirman added.
Former chairman of the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) Sofjan Tsauri, admitted that it was difficult to change people's eating habits since it was a matter of taste and choice.
"But we have to try to gradually change people's views and the government must come up with an appropriate concept of a proper diet," Sofjan said.
Winarno remarked that changing eating habits from rice to other staples was "as hard as changing religion or quitting smoking."
"Therefore, scientists must be open-minded in setting dietary concepts.
"The government also has to encourage the development of secondary crops in every village, with explanations on drying and processing since crops have different water content," Winarno added.
LIPI also launched on Thursday a book on Food and Nutrition VII, containing recommendations and articles from noted experts delivered during a national food and nutrition conference in February this year. (edt)