Evaluation of Nutritional Adequacy in Food Packs Distributed in Pasig City during the COVID-19 Pandemic

• Main Authors: Cantos, John Howard Niles F., Dimaculangan, Althea Mickey L., Rangasa, Flobert P.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2022
• Subjects: food packs; nutritional adequacy; dietary diversity; nutrient adequacy ratio; mean adequacy ratio
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/conf_shsrescon/2022/paper_fnh/3; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1038&context=conf_shsrescon
• Institution: De La Salle University

As a government support plan to address food security concerns in the event of imposed lockdowns, food pack distribution was consistently administered by the local government of Pasig City during the months of March, July, and November 2020. This flawed short-term solution, however, may potentially sacrifice the diet quality of the city residents if the distributed food products are nutritionally inadequate. In investigating this concern, the nutrient contents of the food packs in terms of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and energy were measured through the iFNRI Menu Eval Plus software. The obtained values were divided over the recommended nutrient intakes for the calculation of their respective Nutrient Adequacy Ratio (NAR) and Mean Adequacy Ratio (MAR) values. After being subjected to statistical analysis, it was confirmed that the three distributed food packs were generally nutritionally inadequate.