PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Safety and Halal Food Authority director (operations) Altaf Hussain has said almost half of women and children in the country are micro-nutrient deficient and 58 per cent households are food insecure.

He declared the situation alarming and called for corrective measures on an urgent basis.

`Due to this poor state of malnutrition, Pakistan is losing around three per cent of its gross domestic product i.e. $7.6 annually,` Mr Hussain told a training pro-gramme here on Monday.

The event was titled `Edible Oil Fortification Process and Quality Assurance and Quality Control along with Food Safety Protocols under Institutionalising Mandatory Edible Oil Fortification in Pakistan.

The participants included employees of edible oil and ghee manufacturing units and the field staff members of the FSAHFA from Peshawar, Nowshera, Charssada, Khyber and Mardan districts.

A master trainer delivered the lecture, engaged participants through group work exercise and highlightedthe importance of fortification, method of fortification and the best practices for quality assurance and quality control along with food safety protocols, according to a statement.

Mr Hussain said food fortification was a key strategy to address micro-nutrient deficiencies where the Nutrition International was working with the food safety and Halal food authority and supporting in implementing edible oil fortification interventions in the province.

He added that in recent times, malnutrition had become a great challenge for the country, so addressing it was on priority agenda of the current government.