Nutrition council: P64 for 3 meals a day not enough for healthy diet

BAGUIO CITY— Spending a little more than P64 on daily food intake—or approximately just above P21.30 for each meal—is not enough for a person to reach the recommended energy and nutrients for the body, the National Nutrition Council said.

“If we say P20 per meal, actually parang kulang pa nga ‘yun [it is not enough]. But it is just to fill your hunger, so possible it's more of the carbohydrates that you get. But you will not be able to get the recommended energy and nutrients intake natin,” NNC Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) nutrition program coordinator Bella Basalong said in a media conference.

“If we have that type of diet for longer period of time, magkakasakit tayo [we will get sick] and our performance will not be good,” she added. 

Basalong was reacting to National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan's report in a Senate hearing on Tuesday that as of 2023, the monthly food threshold for a family of five is P9,581 or about P64 per person per day. This means that someone who can spend slightly more than that amount is no longer considered "food poor.”

Basalong said that NEDA’s current threshold is “outdated” as P64 can only pay for one meal nowadays considering the high inflation rate. 

“I think in terms of the food, okay naman ‘yung ginamit nilang food basket. Ang problema doon is hindi na-update ‘yung prices, considering the inflation,” she said. 

(I think in terms of the food, they used the right food basket. The problem is that they did not update the prices considering the inflation.)

Senators earlier urged NEDA to review its threshold to ensure that the poverty forecast is accurate.

Balisacan agreed to this, saying that the revisiting of the food basket will consider food preferences and relative prices of goods, among others. — BM, GMA Integrated News