17 March 2022, Cagayan de Oro City – The Northern Mindanao Regional Bantay Asin Task Force (RBATF) convened its first semester meeting last 16 March 2022 via Zoom. The National Nutrition Council (NNC) X facilitated the conduct of the meeting, which was presided over by Regional Nutrition Program Coordinator Gladys Mae S. Fernandez. A total of 18 RBATF X members attended the meeting.
Meeting highlights include the presentation of the revised RBATF X Diamond Seal Certification Sticker, 2021 Second Semester Salt Monitoring Results for Iligan City, Schedule of the 1st Semester Salt Monitoring, and Updates on Local Salt Distributors’ Activities.
Nutrition Officer (NO) I Liezel Joy D. Reyes presented the lay out of the revised Diamond Seal Certification Sticker. Although, the certification sticker needs minor edits, the body already approved it and requested to incorporate the comments. The sticker will be granted to establishments which use or sell adequately iodized salt.
NO I Reyes also presented the findings and updates of the 2nd Semester Salt Monitoring conducted in Iligan City last 20 October 2021. The monitoring results in Iligan City revealed that most of the salt samples were not compliant to Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) required standard of iodine content of 30-70 parts per million (ppm). Thus, the task force agreed to intensify information dissemination campaign regarding the proper handling and storage of iodized salt and intensify the campaign on producing, selling and consuming adequately iodized salt.
Further, NO I Reyes presented the schedule and the areas to be visited for the 2022 1st Semester Salt Monitoring. The monitoring will be on 23 and 25 March 2022 in Gingoog City and Don Carlos, Bukidnon, respectively. Five (5) RBATF X members committed to join the monitoring.
Moreover, to answer the queries of the members regarding the procurement of the WYD machine and solution, NPC Fernandez presented the contact details of the distributor as well as the price list.
Subsequently, the local salt producers—Artemis Salt Corporation, Arvin International Marketing Inc., and Salinas Foods Inc. presented updates on their various activities.
NNC X as the secretariat of the RBATF X commits to fully support the activities of the task force as well as intensify the campaign on the utilization of adequately iodized salt. (NO I Liezel Joy D. Reyes)