I am already starting to feed Gabrielle with solid food and aside from the fresh fruits and vegetables, I tried feeding her with Mingo, a locally produced organic instant baby food. She loves it and knowing what’s in Mingo and how it is produced, I’m confident to give it to my baby and will be feeding her with it until she fully transitioned to purely solid food.
Mingo is a nutritious baby food made from rice, monggo and moringa and produced by the Negrense Volunteers for Change (NVC) in their production facility at St. Vincent’s Village in Tangub. The formulation of Mingo was patterned from the formula developed by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the DOST but with variants of cocoa and moringa.
| UN Recommendation | NVC Blend |
| per 100gm dry product | |
| 400 kcal | 400.05 kcal |
| 14% protein | 14.37 % protein |
| 6% fat | 6.04% fat |
| *Laboratory results from SGS Phil., Inc. |
NVC used Mingo for their “Start Right, Live Bright Nutritional Program” where they conduct home-based feeding program to 14 sites in Negros Occidental. The children who were under the program showed a marked increase in their weight compared to the children who were not part of the program. The mothers also observed an improvement in their children’s intellectual and social behavior.
Mingo’s nutritional value is even a little higher compared to the recommended value of the the UN.
Just imagine if all the feeding programs in the province would use Mingo? And all the marginalized family will feed their children Mingo? We’ll have a province of healthy and smart people! One pack of 20g of Mingo only costs P4 which can be served as porridge (1/3 cup) or drink (240ml). Mingo is a complementary food and not a replacement for breast milk.
Aside from Mingo instant baby food, NVC also produces Mingo Star healthy snack food which is a better alternative to the junk food that our kids usually buy. It’s also very affordable at only P5 per pack. I hope that in the near future this will be available in every public school in the province.
I’d like to encourage parents who have infants or toddlers to consider Mingo as a nutritious baby food and cheaper alternative to the commercial baby food. As rule, the fewer ingredients you see at the back of the label of your food, the better it is for your health.
You can buy Mingo and give your donations at the NVC Office at the Negros First CyberCentre. Learn about their different programs and projects in Negros Occidental and you might also want to consider donating to the Start Right, Live Bright Program of NVC to help feed their poor beneficiaries. Your P150 donation can feed a child with Mingo for a month. You can also donate online through NVC website.