The city government of Las Pinas distributed Nutribun to more than 500 undernourished children and poor families in all barangays in the city as part of their COVID-19 response during the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ). The city started its distribution of Nutribun on April 19 and continuous to include these nutritious breads in the food packs distributed to families to mitigate hunger during this COVID-19 pandemic.
Nutribun is a bread product used in the 1970’s in public elementary school feeding programs for underweight school children. It was made of wheat blend flour and non-fat dried milk donated by the United States under the PL 480 Title II Food Aid. Nutribun also served as food aid to families when the country was hit by several typhoons also in the 1970’s. The Philippine government partnered with local bakeries in producing the nutritious bread during that time. Thousands of nutribun were distributed to families as food aid and even airdropped to disaster victims stranded in their homes.
Recognizing the value of Nutribun as a nutritious food during emergencies and a food commodity for feeding program, Las Pinas City Nutrition Committee Chair Mayor Imelda Aguilar decided to distribute nutribuns to undernourished children and poor families as part of their hunger mitigation measures during this COVID-19 pandemic. With the sacks of flour donated by San Miguel Corporation, the city government partnered with Arlee’s Breadhouse, Inc., an industrial bakeshop located in the city. Arlee’s Bakeshop, known for its tasty and delicious breads, was able to produce Nutri-bun out of the donated fortified flour as the main ingredient and added milk, sugar, fortified vegetable oil, iodized salt and yeast.
Mas nutritious [ang nutribun] kesa noodles. Ang bata ay natutuwa pati ang pamilya. Ipagpapatuloy namin ang pamimigay nito. Napakaganda sa nutrition ng bata ang nutribun”, says Mayor Aguilar in one of her radio interviews.
Mayor Aguilar understands that the COVID-19 ECQ puts a heavy burden on families in meeting their food needs and other basic necessities. Many families lost their livelihood due to ECQ and their daily subsistence is a challenge. To prevent the worsening of the nutritional status of children, Mayor Aguilar gave instructions to distribute food packs with nutribun, giving priority to poor families and those with undernourished children.
Filipinos are known for their resiliency and ingenuity. During this COVID-19, we hope that more local chief executives will find ways to save children from hunger and malnutrition. They can discover new ways of doing things or they can choose to learn from the lessons of the past such as what Las Pinas City did – they used Nutribun as food aid during this COVID-19 pandemic to save children from hunger and malnutrition. (ELF/MEVF/NNC NCR)
References:
https://www.esquiremag.ph/culture/lifestyle/nutribun-history-a1623-20180921-lfrm
