China's health authorities will expand the population coverage of iron-fortified soy sauce to address the high prevalence of iron-deficiency anemia, Health News, a newspaper published by the Health Ministry, reported Friday.

The move is the second phrase of the country's soy sauce fortification project, initiated in 2003.

Administered by the Food Fortification Office of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), it is also funded by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), a Geneva-based foundation dedicated to eliminating malnutrition.

The second phase would expand the reach of the project to less developed rural areas by involving small and medium-sized soy sauce producers. GAIN expected the project to be completed by April 2013.

More than 20 percent of Chinese had iron-deficiency anemia, but the rates were much higher for infants under the age of two, people aged over 60 and residents of certain regions, said Chen Junshi, director of the the Food Fortification Office of China CDC, at Thursday's launch.

"Iron-fortified soy sauce would change that situation without altering cooking methods or flavors," he said.

"It is safe, economic and efficient in terms of dealing with iron-deficiency anemia," Chen was quoted as saying.

The first phase of the project ended in December 2008. As of March this year, 62.8 million people had access to iron-fortified soy sauce produced by 19 manufacturers.

According to the project overview published on the GAIN website, data collected from 21 health clinics showed that anemia in women and children dropped by a third after iron was added to soy sauce.

(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2010)