DEFRA Consultation Letter, 16 January 2013

BREAD / FLOUR - Formal written consultation on the Bread and Flour Regulations 1998

A copy of the consultation document is available on this site.  See: Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 Consultation

I am writing to invite views on the Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 and the continued need for mandatory fortification of flour in England. As part of the Red Tape Challenge initiative to reduce regulation in all sectors, Defra is reviewing the need for these national rules and is issuing a public consultation on possible deregulatory options.

All wheat flour (except wholemeal) produced in the UK is currently subject to national legislation which requires calcium, iron, niacin and thiamin to be added at certain specified levels. In the case of calcium this is for fortification purposes while in the case of iron, niacin and thiamin this is to replace what is lost during the milling process.

This requirement dates back nearly 60 years to early post war days when there was a significant lack of these nutrients in the diet. A detailed assessment of the nutritional implications of removing or amending this legislation has been carried out by the Department of Health’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN). This can be found at www.sacn.gov.uk or at Annex 4 of the Impact Assessment accompanying this consultation.

This consultation considers a number of possible deregulatory options and seeks your views on these. The Impact Assessment analyses the options in more detail including an assessment of the public health impact of removing or amending the current mandatory fortification requirements in England.

Options: The options considered as part of the consultation are:

• BASELINE - Do nothing. Continue to require mandatory fortification of flour with calcium, iron, niacin and thiamin. Existing regulatory requirements in England would remain in line with the rest of the UK.
• Option 1 - Partial fortification – removing the obligation to fortify with thiamin and niacin but continue flour fortification with calcium and iron.
• Option 2 - No fortification. Repeal existing Bread and Flour Regulations in England ending the compulsory fortification of bread and flour for all 4 vitamins and minerals. It would then be up to manufacturers to decide whether to fortify. Voluntary fortification would be desirable but it would be a decision for industry.
• Option 3a - Fortification of bread flour only.
• Option 3b - Fortification but provide for production and use of unfortified flour in products where flour constitutes less than 10% of the total product. At this stage no Option has been identified as preferred. The consultation process is being used to gather further evidence and views to support the identification of a preferred Option. .

We would welcome comments both on the continued need for fortification of flour in England and on the various deregulatory options set out above. These are detailed more fully in the consultation document and the accompanying Impact Assessment.

Responses should be received by 13 March 2013.