Parents, partnerships, products: The 3Ps to fight malnutrition

The Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) recently found that six out of 10 households report “moderate to severe” food insecurity in certain areas. Among the surveyed households, those with children and pregnant women were found to experience the highest level of food insecurity. 

Though food security and malnutrition has been a decades-long problem, these issues were magnified by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

After more than 20 years of championing nutrition, leading food brand Knorr swears by their three pillars for combating malnutrition—namely, Parents, Partnerships, and Products.

Parents

In many Filipino homes, mothers are the primary decision makers when it comes to food. Imagine our mothers as basically our first line of defense against malnutrition—and an essential partner for proper nutrition at home.

The Knorr Nutrition Education Program—their most successful grassroots efforts for nutrition—has demonstrated the importance of mothers in ensuring that families have access to nutritious meals.

The program has been educating mothers in community and classroom settings for over two decades by addressing the two common barriers to proper nutrition—lack of knowledge and a limited budget. Besides educating them on proper eating habits and nutrition, Knorr also shares recipes for yummy, affordable, and nutritious meals that are also staples in Filipino cuisine such as  ginisang monggo, tinola, and sinigang.

Knorr proves that nutrition doesn’t have to be hard or expensive through their proprietary 21-Day Program in partnership with DOST-FNRI. The program has shown a six times increase in mothers cooking healthy meals in the communities and a 50 percent improvement of health among children. 

Partnerships

Achieving systemic change requires collaboration with other organizations. In the Philippines, Knorr works with the UN World Food Programme and Kabisig ng Kalahi for various feeding and nutrition programs. 

As Knorr’s efforts expanded into education, they’ve teamed up with government agencies to scale up their nutrition program. The nationwide reach of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has increased scalability for programs like the Knorr Nutri Sarap Nutrition Program, which allows it to reach more families who need it. 

The Knorr nutrition education program is poised to scale up even further through partnerships with Pilipinas Kontra Gutom, Scaling Up Nutrition Business Network, the Department of Education (DepEd), as well as various local government units. The program currently serves 500,000 individuals across Metro Manila and CALABARZON.  

Products

At the heart of Knorr’s campaign for nutrition is product innovation born from a passion for good food. What began as products to make food taste better have now been improved to provide extra vitamins and nutrients. 

A lot of Knorr’s best-selling products, like their have recently been reformulated to include essential nutrients. The Knorr Sinigang sa Sampaloc Mix Original now contains Vitamin C while the popular Knorr Broth Cubes now has the added benefit of iron. Both products are wildly used in Filipino cuisine, making its way home in pantries across the country.

“We believe that Knorr has an important role to play in addressing the problem of malnutrition,” says Kristine Go, VP for Foods & Refreshments at Unilever Philippines. “Given our reach and our portfolio of nutritious and delicious products, we are in a position to make a real difference.”

For more information, visit www.knorr.com/ph and follow Knorr Philippines on Facebook and Instagram.

For more information, visit www.knorr.com/ph and follow Knorr Philippines on Facebook and Instagram.

This is part of the Unilever Future Foods agenda of transforming the food system by enabling healthier diets, and a sustainable food chain. For more information visit https://www.knorr.com/ph/future-50.html.