In an industry-academy project, in collaboration with the National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute (NNFTRI) and Aghaye-e-Laziz Khorak (Pani), the debut of Healthy sandwiches was held with the presence of Kari Kahiluoto, the Finish Ambassador to Iran, and Dr. Alireza Zali, the President of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and Health Services and Dr. Amir M. Mortazavian, the director of NNFTRI.
At the opening ceremony, Dr. Zali said: “Food is one of the basic factors in the lives of Iranians and Iranian culture is intertwined with food”. The university president noted: “Providing healthy food is one of the clear strategies of the university in the field of health”. Referring to food-borne diseases, Dr. Zali said: “This issue imposes a large part of unforeseen costs on the health system”. Malnutrition was another issue that Dr. Zali addressed and emphasized, “Nutritional deficiency is one of the challenging issues that must be addressed”. He emphasized the necessity of providing a safe and healthy food basket and continued, “It is necessary to utilize the industrial capacities in this field”.
The president of the university stated, “The effort of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, NNFTRI, and the food industry contracting companies are aimed at providing food of the highest quality in terms of health and minimum cost, with the optimal level of calories, protein and energy in the form of form of seven sandwiches models”. He further emphasized, “These foods are designed, produced and supplied in such a way that people of any financial ability can meet most of their nutritional needs by consuming this snack”. Dr. Zali highlighted the use of unique techniques in the preparation, production, packaging, and storage of food products in the aforementioned food industry complex and stated, “With the strict supervision of Mr. Aghaye-e-Laziz Khorak’s company experts, healthy, complete and high-quality food supply will be available”.
In this meeting, Professor Amir M. Mortazavian, the Director of NNFTRI, referred to the approval of the food security document and the necessity of public health, stated that NNFTRI, based on its inherent mission, has entered into negotiations with food industries and guilds to improve the nutrition process through food technology in the community level. Dr. Mortezavian emphasized that by modifying food formulations, a healthy food basket will be made available to society, especially high-risk groups such as those with fatty liver, cancers, or other special groups such as pregnant, lactating mothers, children, and people with low dietary intake. He announced the future plans of NNFTRI in the field of food safety in the country and said, “In the next stage, the process of trade unions is on the agenda because a large part of non-communicable diseases is the result of inappropriate supply and the activities of some traditional unions such traditional dairy products, fast food, restaurants and confectioneries”.
Kari Kahiluoto, the ambassador of Finland, also valued the special attention of the academic community and food-producing companies to the issue of health. He continued by saying that despite the the sanctions, these days are difficult for investment, for me as the Ambassador of Finland, he is pleased to see that business with Finnish investment is working in Iran. The Ambassador of Finland mentioned that one of Finland’s policies towards developing countries is to encourage the use of healthy food, especially food used in schools. In this meeting, the director of the Aghaye-e-Laziz Khorak also expressed appreciation for the support of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and NNFTRI.