The Department of Science and Technology Region I (DOST-IO), under its Community Empowerment thru Science and Technology (CEST) program, launched a feeding program to improve the nutritional status of children from Barangay Diaz, Palisoc, and Vacante in Bautista, Pangasinan.
Through the Provincial S&T Center in Pangasinan Field Office, with the cooperation of barangay health workers, 65 undernourished children were identified to undergo the supplementary feeding program. Adopted from the DOST Package for the Improvement of Nutrition for Young children (PINOY) strategy, the participants will receive complementary foods for 120 days in addition to their daily food intakes and will be weighed every month to determine the improvement of their nutritional status. The complementary food technology was developed by the DOST-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI).
Cecilia Solomon, Barangay Midwife-designate, was present at the program launch and she encouraged the parents to be resourceful in preparing nutritious meals for their kids. “Nutrition doesn’t stop after the 120 days feeding, let us help in improving and sustaining a good nutritional status of our children after the feeding program,” she added.
Also, Jennifer Fernandez, Science Research Specialist II, demonstrated the preparation of the food blend, and awarded six (6) boxes of ready-to-eat (RTE) chicken arroz caldo to the beneficiaries. The RTE chicken arroz caldo is a technology developed by the DOST- Industrial Technology Development Institute (DOST- ITDI) to address immediate hunger with ready-to-eat food that has longer shelf-life and are safe during calamities.# (Lyngel B. Ulanday)
