FOOD EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES

Introduction

Nutrition education can be defined as any set of learning experiences designed to facilitate the voluntary
adoption of eating and other nutrition-related behaviors conducive to health and well-being. It is an
integral part of providing nutrition services to older persons.

The goal of nutrition education is to reinforce specific nutrition-related practices or behaviors to change
habits that contribute to poor health; this is done by creating a motivation for change among people, to
establish desirable food and nutrition behavior for promotion and protection of good health.

Related Agencies

Department of Science and Technology – Food and Nutrition Research Institute________________

The Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), the principal research arm of the government in food
and nutrition, is one of the research and development institutes of the Department of Science and
Technology (DOST). As such, the Institute pursues the objectives of the National Science and
Technology Plan for 2002-2020 (NSTP 2020); the goals stated in the Medium-Term Development Plan
(MTDP); and the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN).

The FNRI began as the Institute of Nutrition (IN) serving as a clearing house of data and information on
food and nutrition by virtue of Executive Order No. 94 on July 1, 1947. With the creation of the National
Science Development Board in 1958, the Institute was renamed the Food and Nutrition Research Center
(FNRC). In 1975, the Center became known as the Food and Nutrition Research Institute by virtue of
Presidential Decree (PD) 733.

The FNRI provides technical assistance to the National Nutrition Council who oversees the
implementation of the MTPPAN. FNRI was mandated by E.O. 128 (Jan. 1987) and 352 (Jan. 1996) to
provide the benchmarks by which to gauge the country's progress towards achieving the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), which include among others, the eradication of hunger and the reduction of
child mortality. The target is to halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from
hunger, as indicated from the prevalence of underweight-for-age 0-5 year old children, and the proportion
of the population below the minimum level of dietary energy consumption.

The Institute continues to provide relevant technologies and scientific information on food and nutrition.
Some of its major accomplishments include the development and commercialization of nutritional food
products; conduct of periodic nationwide nutrition surveys; development of analytical food quality and
safety assurance system; strategies and programs to address the malnutrition problem and tools,
guidelines and standards to serve the needs of nutrition and nutrition-related workers. All these
technologies are transferred to health and nutrition program implementors as well as the households and
communities with the end view of improving the quality of life of Filipinos.

For the past sixty years and holding true to its mandates, the FNRI undertook food and nutrition research
and development programs and has proven its excellence along this line, particularly in nutritional
assessment and monitoring. S&T technology transfer and utilization programs complemented the R&D in
providing various F&N stakeholders with research data, information and services to enhance service
delivery to their various clientele.

I. Mandate

Under Executive Order No. 128 signed on January 30, 1987, the Food and Nutrition Research Institute,
consonant to the promotion of efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of public services, is mandated
to perform these functions:

Undertake researches that define the citizenry’s nutritional status, with reference to the
malnutrition problem, its causes and effects
Develop and recommend policy options, strategies, programs and projects for implementation by
appropriate agencies.
Diffuse knowledge and technologies in food and nutrition and provide S&T services to relevant
stakeholders (as per E.O. 366, November 13, 2009)
II. Vision
OPTIMUM NUTRITION for all Filipinos, socially and economically empowered through
scientifically sound, environment- friendly and globally competitive technologies.
III. Mission

As the lead agency in food and nutrition research and development in the country, the FNRI’s mission is
the:

Provision of accurate data, correct information, and innovative technologies to fight malnutrition.
National Nutrition Council______________________________________________________________

The NNC, as mandated by law, is the country's highest policy-making and coordinating body on nutrition.

Core Functions

1. Formulate national food and nutrition policies and strategies and serve as the policy,
coordinating and advisory body of food, nutrition and health concerns;
2. Coordinate planning, monitoring, and evaluation of the national nutrition program;
3. Coordinate the hunger mitigation and malnutrition prevention program to achieve relevant
Millennium Development Goals;
4. Strengthen competencies and capabilities of stakeholders through public education, capacity
building and skills development;
5. Coordinate the release of funds, loans, and grants from government organizations (GOs) and
nongovernment organizations (NGOs); and
6. Call on any department, bureau, office, agency and other instrumentalities of the government
for assistance in the form of personnel, facilities and resources as the need arises.

Composition

The Council is composed of a Governing Board (GB) and a Secretariat. The Governing Board is the
policy-making body of the NNC and is composed of the:

1. Secretary of Health, Chairperson

2. Secretary of Agriculture, Vice-Chair
3. Secretary of the Interior and Local Government, Vice-Chair
4. Secretary of Budget and Management
5. Secretary of Education
6. Secretary of Labor and Employment
7. Secretary of Science and Technology
8. Secretary of Social Welfare and Development
9. Secretary of Trade and Industry
10. Director-General, National Economic and Development Authority

Three representatives from the private sector are appointed by the President of the Republic of the
Philippines for a two-year term.
Structure for Nutrition Policy and Program Coordination

The functions and multisectoral composition of the NNC are replicated at subnational levels. Regional,
provincial, city, municipal and barangay nutrition committees are organized to manage and coordinate the
planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of local hunger-mitigation and nutrition action plan
as a component of the local development plan.

Local chief executives serve as chairpersons. Nutrition action officers are designated or appointed to
attend to the day-to-day operations of the local nutrition program.

Republic of the Philippines

Department of Health
NATIONAL NUTRITION COUNCIL

PHILIPPINE PLAN OF ACTION FOR NUTRITION 2017-2022

A call to urgent action for Filipinos and its leadership

Executive Summary
1. The Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN) 2017-2022 is an integral part of the Philippine
Development Plan 2017-2022. It is consistent with the Duterte
Administration 10-point Economic Agenda, the Health for All Agenda of the
Department of Health (DOH), the development pillars of malasakit (protective concern), pag babago
(change or transformation), and kaunlaran (development), and the vision of Ambisyon 2040. It factors in
and considers country commitments to the global community as embodied in the 2030 Sustainable
Development Goals, the 2025
Global Targets for Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition, the 2014 International
Conference on Nutrition.
2. It is a results-based plan with SMART results at different levels designed in a results framework.
3. It consists of 12 programs and 46 projects serving as a framework for actions that could be undertaken
by member agencies of the National Nutrition Council (NNC), other national government agencies, local
government units, non-government organizations, academic institutions, and development partners. For
better accountability, a member agency of the NNC Governing Board has been designated as lead for one
or more of these programs.
4. Of these 12 programs, 8 are nutrition-specific, one is nutrition-sensitive and three are enabling support
programs. A program for local government mobilization is among the three enabling programs to ensure
their wider participation in delivering nutritional outcomes.
5. The PPAN 2017-2022 comes with a budget estimate for the entire period of six years.
The plan has a monitoring and evaluation framework showing the plan for progress monitoring and
evaluation through the six-year period.
6. The National Nutrition Council Secretariat led and coordinated plan formulation.
Plan formulation started with the conduct of a nutrition landscape analysis commissioned by NNC with
support from Micronutrient Initiative and the United
Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). A team of Filipino consultants conducted the assessment from
August to October 2016 using landscape analysis based on document reviews, focus group discussions,
key informant interviews, inter-sectoral consultations and validation meetings with a wide range of
stakeholders. The results of the analysis are contained in a separate document “Situation Analysis of
Nutrition.
 Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition 2017-2022

Ambisyon 2040, Philippine Development Plan and Sustainable Development Goals

Reduced wasting among Reduced stunting among Reduced micronutrient Improved situation in
children under-five children under-five deficiencies overweight and obesity

• Reduced nutritionally-at-risk • Improved food

• Increased exclusive breastfeeding
pregnant women intake

• Reduced low birth weight • Improved complementary feeding

Nutrition-specific programs Nutrition-sensitive programs

Enabling programs
NUTRITION PROGRAM IN PHILIPPINES_____________________________________________