Proper nutrition at school is part of Egyptian government plans to raise a new generation of healthy youngsters, a government official said on Tuesday.
During President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s opening of Silo Foods Industrial City in Menoufia, Minister of Education Tarek Shawki said that 24 million students are in full-time pre-university education and that work is underway in many schools to form a pupil’s identity and personality through healthy eating habits.
The Ministry of Education’s school nutrition programme targets 13 million students.
A host of government ministers and senior state officials attended the opening ceremony.
Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali el-Meselhi also attended the event.
For his part, el-Meselhi described Silo Foods as a “tremendous boon thanks to government efforts to attain food security for the nation”.
State plans are for maintaining food stocks for at least six months as food distribution nationwide grows more efficient, the minister said.
He stressed the importance of wheat as a basic commodity for Egypt, pointing out that 70 per cent of the Egyptian people consume bread. Silo capacity has increased from 1.2 million tons in 2014 to 3.4 million tons this year, the minister said. The state strategy to trade in wheat reduced imports by 13 per cent this year, he said, adding that wheat stocks will last for more six months.
As for sugar, the minister said areas cultivated with sugarcane this year increased, leading to a rise in sugar production and self-sufficiency from 75 per cent to 89 per cent, also leading to a reduction in imports.
The state has managed to achieve self-sufficiency in rice thanks to regulations for its distribution and new rice mills.
The ministry has sugar and cooking oil stocks for five months.
On the meat and poultry front, el-Meselhi said his ministry has been working to achieve self-sufficiency in proteins.
Although the country is self-sufficient in poultry with stocks for six months, quantities of the frozen variety had to be imported last winter, he said.
As of October this year, a nutritional deficiency screening campaign will be launched in Upper Egypt, Minister of Health and Population Hala Zayed said during the opening ceremony of Silo Foods City yesterday.
The minister added that mobile units will be screening residents in rural areas.
In a similar campaign in 2018, schoolchildren were screened for anaemia, stunting and obesity.
Children diagnosed with anemia are given dietary supplements from the ministry, Zayed said.
As for stunting, Minister Zayed added that the demand for growth hormone has been met 100 per cent.
Stunting does not only affect the height but also makes a child vulnerable to diabetes, she said.
Zayed added that the rate of stunting has shown little improvement so far while child obesity has been on the increase and only cases of anaemia have declined.
Anaemia is prevalent in Upper Egypt, mainly Assiout and Sohag.
Meanwhile, Minister Zayed said that her ministry is to launch a check-up programme for women who wish to have children to ascertain whether they suffer from nutritional deficiency, as per directives from President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, who attaches due attention to women’s health.
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