bsheets
Sun, Jun-24-07, 11:08
Bread must contain folic acid
Peter Veness
June 23, 2007 12:00am
Food Standards Australia New Zealand's decision was made in a bid to stop spina bifida and other crippling defects in babies.
Adding folic acid would deliver pregnant women half the dose of folic acid needed to avoid the neural tube defects, which affect 350 newborns a year.
"This . . . is expected to prevent between 14 and 49 neural tube defects in the 300-350 affected pregnancies in Australia each year, when combined with existing voluntary fortification permissions and current levels of supplement usage," a FSANZ statement said.
"In NZ, this level of fortification is expected to prevent 4 to 14 neural tube defects each year.
"There is a transition period of two years for the new standard."
Organic bread will be exempt from the decision.
A review of the decision will be held two years after mandatory fortification is introduced.
"The review will consider health impacts and the effectiveness of the initiative, the actual cost impacts on the food industry and the adequacy of the monitoring framework," FSANZ said.
It and some health specialists say compulsory fortification is the safest, most effective and economical way to address the health problem.
But the move was stalled last year after opposition from manufacturers and some scientists.
The Australian Food and Grocery Council said the health problems required a public health solution, not medication of the food supply.
The industry believes most people do not want folate added to bread, and implementing the plan may push up the cost to consumers. - AAP
Source: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21952431-24331,00.html
Peter Veness
June 23, 2007 12:00am
Food Standards Australia New Zealand's decision was made in a bid to stop spina bifida and other crippling defects in babies.
Adding folic acid would deliver pregnant women half the dose of folic acid needed to avoid the neural tube defects, which affect 350 newborns a year.
"This . . . is expected to prevent between 14 and 49 neural tube defects in the 300-350 affected pregnancies in Australia each year, when combined with existing voluntary fortification permissions and current levels of supplement usage," a FSANZ statement said.
"In NZ, this level of fortification is expected to prevent 4 to 14 neural tube defects each year.
"There is a transition period of two years for the new standard."
Organic bread will be exempt from the decision.
A review of the decision will be held two years after mandatory fortification is introduced.
"The review will consider health impacts and the effectiveness of the initiative, the actual cost impacts on the food industry and the adequacy of the monitoring framework," FSANZ said.
It and some health specialists say compulsory fortification is the safest, most effective and economical way to address the health problem.
But the move was stalled last year after opposition from manufacturers and some scientists.
The Australian Food and Grocery Council said the health problems required a public health solution, not medication of the food supply.
The industry believes most people do not want folate added to bread, and implementing the plan may push up the cost to consumers. - AAP
Source: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21952431-24331,00.html