permitted minerals and vitamins in food and food
supplements
New legislation regulating permitted minerals
and vitamins in foods and food supplements came into force in
England on 1 January 2010. This implements the corresponding EU
legislation and amends and updates the Food Supplements (England)
Regulations 2003 and the Addition of Vitamins, Minerals and Other
Substances (England) Regulations 2007.
The EU Food Supplements Directive which was
transposed into national law in 2003 introduced positive lists of
vitamins and minerals and their sources which were permitted for
use in food supplements. This Directive also provided a
derogation until 31 December 2009. This allowed the continued use
of vitamins and minerals and their forms which were not on the
permitted lists, provided they were already on the market when the
Directive came into force and provided that the European Food
Safety Authority (EFSA) had not issued a negative opinion.
Following evaluation of the non-listed vitamin
and mineral substances for which dossiers were submitted to EFSA,
the new legislation provides for an additional two minerals
and 67 vitamin and mineral sources to be permitted over those
listed in the original Directive. The two new permitted minerals
are boron and silicon. From 1 January 2010 all vitamins and mineral
and their forms not complying with the updated positive lists will
be banned from food supplements. Any future changes to the Food
Supplements Directive which relate to the vitamins, minerals and
their sources permitted in food supplements will be given automatic
effect in national law.
The new legislation also implements the EU
requirement that the amounts of vitamins and minerals in
recommended daily doses of food supplements are expressed on the
labels as a percentage of any recommended daily allowance (RDA)
which has been set. A transitional provision for complying with
this requirement is allowed until 31 October 2012.
The EU legislation also adds one mineral
and ten vitamin and mineral sources to those already permitted for
addition to food under the Regulation on addition of vitamins and
minerals and certain other substances to food.
According to the Alliance for Natural Health
(ANH), an advocacy body for the promotion of natural and
sustainable health, the ban will affect hundreds of products that
were sold under the derogation in a number of Member States
including the UK. Amongst those products which will no longer be
permitted are all food supplements containing vanadium or silver,
as well as many mineral amino acid chelates. The ANH are seeking a
transition period to enable banned vitamins or minerals to be sold
for the duration of their shelf life. They are also asking for
clarification of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) advice to all
local authorities updating them on the changes to this legislation
and reminding them that ‘enforcement action should be in line with
the principles of proportionality and consistency set out in the
Food Law Code of Practice’.
