How much do you know about food fortification?

Nutrient fortification refers to natural or synthetic nutrients and other nutrients added to food to increase its nutritional content (value). The Food Safety Law classifies nutritional fortification as a type of food additive.

The use of nutritional fortificants is required to comply with the National Standard for Food Safety on the Use of Nutritional Fortificants in Food (GB 14880-2012). This standard is mandatory and if a manufacturer fortifies food with nutrients, it must comply with the requirements of this standard, but manufacturers can voluntarily choose whether to fortify their products with the appropriate nutrients. This time, Food Partner Network introduces some points that need attention when using and labelling nutrient fortification in food products that enterprises voluntarily choose to fortify.

I. How to label nutrient fortification in the food ingredients list

Manufacturers may choose to label nutritional fortification in the ingredients list in any of the following three ways.

(1) Labeling the name of the compound, in accordance with the name of the compound source in Schedule B or Table C.1 of GB 14880.

For example, if a food is fortified with vitamin E and the compound used is dl-α-tocopherol, the ingredient list may be labelled "dl-α-tocopherol".

(2) Label both the name of the nutrient and the name of the compound.

For example, if a food is fortified with vitamin E and the compound used is dl-α-tocopherol, it may be labelled as "vitamin E (dl-α-tocopherol)" or "dl-α-tocopherol (vitamin E)" in the ingredient list.

(3) Indicate the name of the nutrient.

Example: A food fortified with vitamin E may be labelled as "vitamin E" in the ingredients list.

In accordance with internationally accepted labelling methods, manufacturers are encouraged to use the first two methods of labelling in the ingredient list.

2. The equivalent names in brackets in GB 14880 can be used

Where there are brackets around the source of certain nutrient fortification agents and compounds, the names inside and outside the brackets are considered equivalent and can be labelled as either one or both on the product label.

Example: "L-Carnitine (L-Carnitine)" may be labelled as "L-Carnitine" or "L-Carnitine", or both, e.g. "L-Carnitine (L-Carnitine)".

3. Fortified vitamins and minerals can be labelled separately

Examples: vitamins (retinyl palmitate, calcium D-pantothenate...), minerals (calcium carbonate, magnesium chloride...).

Nutritional fortification of foods with nutrient fortification agents requires attention to the types of foods that can be fortified, the amount used and the sources of compounds allowed to be used, and attention to the conversion of the amount used to avoid over-use of nutrient fortification agents. At the same time, nutritionally fortified foods should be truthfully and correctly labelled with the value of the fortified nutrient content and the percentage of nutrient reference value in the Nutrition Facts Table to convey the necessary nutrient content information to consumers and to protect consumers' right to know.