Bread and flour – the fig-leaf of fortification remains
Andrew Whitley of Bread Matters shared his thoughts on a missed opportunity with Artisan Food Law earlier this month.
The Government has decided to leave The Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 unchanged after years of deliberation and a consultation. Ministers announced their decision – to do nothing – in early August, the traditional month for burying policy embarrassments. There has been predictably little reaction, which is a shame, because an opportunity has been missed to realign a part of the food system for good.
Mandatory fortification of flour, other than wholemeal, with calcium, iron, niacin and thiamin is testament to a long-standing policy agreement that roller-milled white flour was and remains nutritionally inadequate, at least in respect of these four nutrients.
Advances in knowledge and research since 1953 indicate that the underlying nutrient density of typical bread wheats may have declined, so assumptions about the dietary contribution of white flour (even when fortified) need to be revised. Some of the mandatory fortificants, notably iron, are poorly assimilated, undermining the credibility and logic of the current regulations.
A much better approach would be to address the nutritional inadequacy of refined white flour from a public health perspective, asking not ‘What should we put back into flour?’ but ‘How might we make flour as good as possible for everyone?’ Good, in this context, must mean both nutritionally dense, flour which contains optimal levels of those vitamins and minerals with which it is naturally endowed, and digestible, that is free, as far as possible, of protein fractions that trigger gluten sensitivity.
A meaningful level of nutrient retention would probably result in a slightly creamy-coloured flour with an extraction rate, the amount of the whole grain retained, of about 80 per cent. Step forward ‘Golden Flour’. No need for GM here, just leaving a bit more in.
Read more about Andrew’s radical plan on Artisan Food Law.
Draft Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013
The Food Standards Agency has launched a
consultation on the new Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013. The purpose of the Draft Regulations is two-fold.
Firstly, it aims to consolidate the law in England, bringing two important pieces of national law together into one measure. This follows concerns raised by food businesses that it can be difficult to find relevant food safety law and food hygiene law.
Secondly, it introduces new provisions giving effect to EU regulations recently made on the seeds for sprouting sector and an amendment to
The Food Safety (Sampling and Qualifications) (England) Regulations 2013. In 2011 there were outbreaks of food poisoning in Germany and France. Sprouts and seeds intended for sprouting were identified as the most likely source. In consequence a new package of EU regulations for the hygienic production of sprouts were introduced to safeguard public health. These regulations will be given effect in England with the implementation of the new Draft Regulations.
Consolidation may be a sensible move to make, but it is hard to see that putting lots of complex and at times confusing law in one place will make much difference in practice.
Click here for further details. The consultation closes on 14 October 2013
European Commission v Republic of Poland – GM feed
The controversial decision which Poland took in 2006 to prohibit the production, placing on the market and use in animal feed in Poland of genetically modified feed and GMOs intended for feed was challenged by the European Commission.
The case was heard in the European Court last July and the Commission lost. The judgement was recently published in the Official Journal but the decision appears to have received scant attention.
While the outcome may have been a surprise victory for Poland, perhaps the reason for the lack of attention is that it owed more to a technicality than a win on the merits. The provision of Poland’s national law challenged by the Commission had not at the relevant date actually entered into force with the result that Poland was not actually in breach of its obligations. An outcome in keeping with long established principles. This will, no doubt, not be the end of the story.
UK Controls on EU Protected Food Names Audited
The grant of protected food name status (PDO, PGI and TSG) is subject to monitoring through official controls. The UK’s arrangements have recently been
audited by the EU’s Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) which concluded that overall appropriate measures were in place.
The FVO was, however, critical of the poor levels of communication between Defra and the control bodies who audit official controls. In particular, the lack of any audit and inspection of control bodies by Defra which was accepted and action is being taken to address this weakness.
Click here for further details.
Artisan Food Law is now online …
We hope you will like the first phase of
Artisan Food Law which is available to preview now. There is much, much more to do but there is now lots of useful content on the site and we will always be guided by what our users and readers want next ... so watch this space.
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