The use of nutritional fortifiers needs to comply with the "National Food Safety Standard - Standard for the Use of Food Nutrition Fortifiers" (GB 14880-2012). This standard is a mandatory standard. If a manufacturer conducts nutritional fortification in food, it must meet the relevant requirements of this standard, but the manufacturer can voluntarily choose whether to fortify the corresponding nutrients in the product. This time, Food Partner Network introduces some points that enterprises need to pay attention to when using and labeling nutritionally fortified foods when they voluntarily choose nutritionally fortified foods.
 
1. Labeling method of nutritional fortifiers in food ingredients list
 
1. Focus on the key points. Manufacturers can choose to use any of the following three methods to indicate nutritional fortifiers in the ingredient list:
 
(1) Indicate the name of the compound, according to the name under the source of the compound in Appendix B of GB 14880 or in Table C.1.
 
For example, if a food is fortified with vitamin E, and the compound used is dl-α-tocopherol, “dl-α-tocopherol” can be marked in the ingredient list.
 
(2) Label the nutrient name and the compound name at the same time.
 
For example: a food is fortified with vitamin E, and the compound used is dl-alpha-tocopherol, which can be marked as "vitamin E (dl-alpha-tocopherol)" or "dl-alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) in the ingredient list. )”.
 
(3) Label the nutrient name.
 
For example: a food fortified with vitamin E can be marked with "vitamin E" in the ingredient list.
 
According to the internationally accepted labeling method, manufacturers are encouraged to use the first two methods above to label in the ingredient list.
 
2. Equivalent names in brackets in GB 14880 can be used
 
If there are parentheses behind some nutritional fortifiers and sources of compounds, the names inside and outside the parentheses are regarded as equivalent, and either one of them can be indicated on the product label alone, or both can be indicated at the same time.
 
For example: "L-carnitine (L-carnitine)" can be labeled as "L-carnitine" or "L-carnitine", or both, such as "L-carnitine (L-carnitine)".
 
3. Fortified vitamins and minerals can be classified and labeled
 
Examples: vitamins (retinyl palmitate, calcium D-pantothenate…), minerals (calcium carbonate, magnesium chloride…).
 
2. Labeling of nutrients in the nutrient composition table
 
If nutritional fortifiers are used in prepackaged food, the content and value of the nutritional ingredients in the fortified food shall be indicated in the nutrition composition table according to the requirements of the General Rules for Nutrition Labelling of Prepackaged Foods in National Food Safety Standard (GB 28050-2011). It is a percentage of the Nutrient Reference Value (NRV).
 
  Kind tips:
 
1. The use amount of nutritional fortifiers specified in Appendix A of GB 14880 refers to the actual amount added during the production process, and is not equivalent to the nutrient content in the product label. The reason is that the contents of various nutrients contained in the background of different food raw materials are quite different, and the attenuation and loss of different nutrients during product production and shelf life are also different. Therefore, there may be inconsistencies between the labelled value and the detected value, and there may be situations where the labelled value is higher or lower than the nutrient usage range specified in GB 14880.
 
2. When other nutrients except GB 28050 Table 1 that are allowed to be fortified in GB 14880 and the announcement of the national health administrative department are marked, their order should be after the nutrients listed in GB 28050 Table 1.
 
Example: A product is fortified with both vitamin A and L-carnitine, vitamin A is listed in Table 1 of GB 28050, but L-carnitine is not listed. Therefore, in the nutrient content table, vitamin A should be ranked higher than L-carnitine.
 
3. Conversion of Nutrient Usage
 
The usage amount of nutritional fortifiers refers to the usage amount of active ingredients in the source of the compound, so some compounds need to be converted to determine their usage amount.
 
Example: Take bread fortifying nutrient iron as an example, if ferrous gluconate is used as the source of compounds fortifying the nutrient, it is necessary to combine the chemical formula of the ferrous gluconate compound used to calculate the relative molecular mass of ferrous gluconate, and calculate the relative molecular mass of ferrous gluconate according to the iron element. The relative molecular weight is the percentage of the relative molecular weight of the compound, and the total amount of the compound required to reach the nutritional fortifier "iron" specified in GB14880 in the corresponding category of food is calculated.
 
The molecular formula of ferrous gluconate is: C12H22FeO14·nH2O, where n=0 or 2; taking n=0, that is, the case of selecting ferrous gluconate anhydrous as an example, the relative molecular mass of ferrous gluconate anhydrous is 446.15, The relative molecular mass of iron is 56; according to GB 14880, the amount of fortified iron used in bread is 14mg/kg~26mg/kg. Therefore, the theoretical range of ferrous gluconate usage is: (446.15×14mg/kg)/56~(446.15×26mg/kg)/56=111.54mg/kg~207.14mg/kg.
 
Conclusion:
 
When using nutritional fortifiers to fortify foods, it is necessary to pay attention to the types of foods that can be fortified, the amount of use, and the sources of compounds allowed to be used, and pay attention to the conversion of the amount of use to avoid using nutritional fortifiers beyond the scope. At the same time, nutritionally fortified foods should truthfully and correctly indicate the fortified nutrient content value and the percentage of the nutrient reference value in the nutrient composition table, so as to convey the necessary nutrient composition information to consumers and protect consumers' right to know.