The Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-CALABARZON turned over S&T products as food relief to evacuees in the towns of Agoncillo and Laurel, Batangas who were affected by the recent phreatomagmatic events in Taal Volcano, April 06.

The food relief package was composed of enhanced nutribun and rice-mongo crunchies produced by DOST-Batangas cooperators. Enhanced nutribuns were sourced out from Sweetie Pies Pasalubong Center, adoptor of enhanced nutribun and cooperator under the Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program or SETUP. Rice-mongo crunchies, on the other hand, were procured from Samahan ng mga Inang Gabay at Lakas ng Aktibong Komunidad, a Grants-in-Aid community-based project beneficiary of the DOST.

The relief packages were distributed to Pook Elementary School Evacuation Center, Brgy. Pook, Agoncillo, Batangas and to LGU-Laurel’s Donation Management Hub, Municipal Hall of Laurel, Batangas.

Evacuees have been in the evacuation shelters for more than a week now and Alert Level 3 still prevails over Taal Volcano indicating continuous volcanic unrest.

The enhanced nutribun, with several variants, was developed by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the DOST (DOST-FNRI) that is enriched with vitamins and minerals ideal as relief food during disasters and to address also the incidence of malnutrition among children.