FSA considers folic acid in flour move
BRITAIN’S official food watchdog will next week consider whether folic acid should be routinely added to flour to reduce birth defects such as spina bifida.
Adding folic acid to bread via wheat flour would help cut neural tube defects (NTDs), according to scientific research.
The Food Standards Agency’s board is set to consider independent advice on whether to support mandatory fortification of white and brown wheat flour.
Up to 900 pregnancies in the UK each year are affected by spina bifida and other NTDs.
The meeting follows a long debate about the pros and cons of routinely adding folic acid - a synthetic form of the B vitamin folate - to flour. The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) has recommended the measure be taken up.
The FSA will look at whether products containing folic acid at “nutritionally significant” levels should say so on labels. New controls would also be needed on the voluntary addition of folic acid to breakfast cereals and low-fat spreads and on the use of folic acid supplements.
Papers published yesterday - which will be presented to the FSA’s board - suggested “the incidence of NTD-affected pregnancies in the UK is likely to be reduced if mandatory fortification of wheat flour with folic acid is introduced”.
Wholemeal flour would be exempt from fortification to give consumers more choice.
Between 700 and 900 pregnancies are affected by NTDs every year, with most diagnosed women opting for abortions.
The FSA already advises women to ingest extra folic acid when trying to get pregnant.
However, this is ineffective because around half of pregnancies are unplanned. Mandatory fortification has already been introduced in the US, Canada and Chile, where it cut NTD rates by 27-50 per cent.
A panel of UK scientific experts last year came out in favour of mandatory fortification.
SACN said the measure should be brought in with controls on voluntary fortification, advice on the use of supplements and long-term monitoring.
An FSA consultation on the issue drew 202 responses from industry, consumer groups and individuals.
The baking industry raised “practical concerns” over the move, as bread-making flour couldn’t easily be separated from other flours in mills.
The FSA board will make a decision decide on the issue on Thursday.
If it backs mandatory fortification, it will recommend the move to health ministers, who will have the final say.
