Shun Shing Edible Oil Ltd. (SSEOL) pushed through government approval to fortify our products with vitamin A. Fortification of a staple ingredient like cooking oil with the essential micro ingredient vitamin A is a great is a great public health benefit. SSEOL worked under the guidelines of GAIN (The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition launched by the UN) to make our products more nutritional for our consumers.
Vitamin A is important for visual health, immune function and fetal growth and development. Vitamin A deficiency is a public health problem in many parts of the world, particularly in South-East Asia. It can cause visual impairment in the form of night blindness and, in children, may increase the risk of illness and death from childhood infections, including measles and those causing diarrhoea.
Fortification is the practice of deliberately increasing the content of an essential micronutrient in a food, so as to improve the nutritional quality of the food supply and provide a public health benefit with minimal risk to health. Foods such as edible oils and fats, cereal grains, condiments, refined sugar and milk have been successfully fortified with vitamin A and studies have shown that consumption of vitamin A-fortified foods can improve vitamin A status.