More than a quarter of our children have a deep and chronic lack of protein that undermines their potential and is a ball-and-chain around the ankles of economic productivity and long-term growth.

Listen to this article 9 min Listen to this article 9 min At the opening of Parliament, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the government's intention to expand the list of food items exempt from value-added tax (VAT) to provide greater protection and support to the most vulnerable in society.

But if that is the aim, then the means of achieving it needs to be reconsidered. What is required is deeper discounting, not wider, to substantially reduce the price of a more limited basket of high-protein staple foods that, with a couple of exceptions, are already VAT exempt.

This conclusion is consistent with the National Treasury's 2018 report to the minister of finance that, apart from a few additional foodstuffs, it would be better to direct more money to low-income households through expenditure side interventions than through further VAT exemptions.

One of the foodstuffs it did propose for new exemption was individually frozen chicken pieces, which are the main source of meat protein for lower-income households. From a nutritional point of view that makes a lot of sense, and we would add peanut butter to the list because of its high protein content.

Beyond those items, the revenue foregone by...