Dietitians of Canada

Food Fortification

Background

Fortification means adding vitamins and minerals to foods. The government regulates the addition of certain nutrients to foods to ensure Canadians do not fall short. Some examples include:

• Adding vitamin D to milk
• Adding iron to cereal
• Adding folic acid to flour

Position

Dietitians of Canada supports food fortification when there is a clear need for the public’s health. Foods should only be fortified when:

• It can help prevent illness
• Nutrients are hard to obtain from the food supply
• Not enough nutrients are being eaten by Canadians

Canadians benefit from the addition of vitamins or minerals to food for these purposes. However, if the public is not falling short of a certain nutrient, there is no need to fortify foods with it.

DC does not support discretionary fortification. Discretionary fortification would allow food manufacturers to add vitamins and minerals to foods that are not necessarily low in the Canadian diet. We are concerned that high fat, high calorie foods that may be fortified at the discretion of the food industry may replace healthier food choices. This could add to the obesity problem in Canada.

Action

DC prepared a brief on this topic in 2009. We presented it to government and have shared it with many stakeholders.

• Other national health organizations have supported our brief including the Canadian Diabetes Association, the Canadian Paediatric Society, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the Canadian and Ontario Public Health Associations.
• DC has written several follow-up letters to Health Canada and the Minister of Health on this topic
• Our strong position, supported by other stakeholders was instrumental in Health Canada reconsidering a proposed policy that would permit discretionary fortification of foods by food manufacturers.