The Food for School Program (FSP) of the Department of Education (DepEd) is an immediate
intervention program to address hunger among families through their children in Grade 1, pre-schools and
day care centers. It is a form of food subsidy for young learners who belong to poor families. It provides a
daily ration of one (1) kilogram of rice for a limited period of time, as long as the child goes to school or
day care center [1]. The FSP was established in response to Republic Act 8976. To meet the
requirements of this Program, rice, which is a staple food for 93% of Filipino households [2], was
fortified with iron. Iron fortified rice (I-Rice) in the FSP was introduced when it was made available by
the NFA.