The Symposium on Innovation for the Sustainability of the Food Industry (SISIA 2025) began today in Havana with discussions on the national strategy for food fortification.

The event is dedicated to the centenary of the birth of Cuban Revolution leader Fidel Castro Ruz next year, as explained during the opening ceremony by the General Director of the Research Institute for the Food Industry (IIIA) and president of the organizing committee, engineer Jesús Rodríguez Mendoza.

The symposium, under the motto "Sustainable Food Innovation," is organized by the IIIA, the leading institution for innovation and development in Cuba's food industry. Among its notable results are foods for the elderly and pregnant women, fruit and vegetable juices for children, reduced-sugar products, and other technical, educational, and scientific services.

The conference "Innovation and Alliances for Scaling Sustainable Solutions in the Cuban Food Industry: Towards a National Strategy for Food Fortification," delivered by Étienne Labande, Representative of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Cuba, opened the event's sessions.

In his presentation, Labande highlighted that since late 2023, the WFP has resumed facilitating and providing technical accompaniment to the Cuban government to implement a National Food Fortification Strategy.

This initiative prioritizes acquiring viable options for mass-consumption foods, strengthening the technological capacities of national industrial production, and supporting a regulatory framework to give legal body to national food fortification, among other actions.

Key sectors such as the Food Industry, Agriculture, and Public Health are participating in this project. Long-term expected outcomes include improving food baskets through the incorporation of fortified foods.

Additionally, it aims to improve the quality of diets and consumption practices among vulnerable groups through the use of fortified foods by institutions within the social protection network.

Another topic of the day focused on a fermented milk dessert made from milk, sugar, modified starch, dairy culture, gelatin, salt, and soursop flavor, intended for the nutrition of the Cuban elderly, developed by IIIA researchers.

This is a product recommended for elderly individuals with chewing difficulties or who suffer from dysphagia (difficulty or inability to swallow).

It provides benefits for intestinal health thanks to the presence of probiotic strains, according to its authors Yisel León Alomá, Ivania Rodríguez, Urselia Hernández López, Carola Iñiguez, Margarita Núñez de Villavicencio, and Pablo Aldana.

Furthermore, on this first day, the development of a chocolate-flavored baking syrup using roasted cocoa husks was presented. This product has the potential to substitute imports in the food industry and was introduced by Danae Pérez Santana from the Institute of Pharmacy and Food of the University of Havana.