Australia Mandates Folic Acid Fortification in Baking Flour

CANBERRA, AustraliaFood Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) on Sept. 13 began mandating that bread-making flour in Australia must be fortified with folic acid, a form of the B vitamin folate shown to reduce the risk of babies being born with neural tube defects. This new rule is expected to reduce the number of affected pregnancies by up to 14 percent.

Mandatory folic acid addition to flour has been used safely in the United States and Canada for more than 10 years where rates of spina bifida have decreased significantly. Australian health authorities will be monitoring the effects of the increased levels of folic acid in the food supply.

The folic acid mandatory fortification standard was developed by FSANZ at the request of the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council that consists of health and food ministers from the Australian Federal, State and Territory Governments.