Nation to have new national nutrition guideline

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)