The Ministry of Health recently issued an announcement, publishing the newly revised “Standards for the Use of Food Nutrition Fortifiers” (GB 14880-2012). This standard will come into official effect on January 1, 2013.

This revision summarizes and sorts out the regulations on the use of nutritional fortifiers in the original “Standards for the Use of Food Nutritional Fortifiers” (GB 14880-1994) and the usage of food nutritional fortifiers approved by the Ministry of Health over the years. Based on the established principles of nutritional fortification and the results of risk assessment, an analysis is conducted on the rationality of the original content, ensuring its consistency with current laws, regulations, and standards.

The revised standard includes the main text and four appendices. The main text of the standard, with reference to China’s laws and regulations, international Codex Alimentarius standards, and relevant regulations and standards of other countries, specifies the main purposes of nutritional fortification, the requirements for using nutritional fortifiers, and the principles for selecting categories of fortifiable foods. Appendix A lists the categories of foods allowed to be fortified and their usage levels, and standardizes such issues as inconsistent expression units of nutritional components and unscientific compound names. Appendix B lists the names of compound sources of nutritional fortifiers allowed to be used, and provides more than one compound for most nutrients for producers to choose from. Appendix C, with reference to international standards and the experience of other countries, lists the nutritional fortifiers and their compound sources allowed to be used in foods for special dietary uses, and is linked with the product standards for infant foods and other products already issued in China. Appendix D lists food categories (names) in accordance with relevant national standards of China, which is helpful for enterprises to refer to and use.

During the revision process, we fully drew on the management experience of international organizations and developed countries, conducted a scientific analysis of the dietary structure of Chinese residents, the nutritional characteristics of food, and the consumption characteristics of the population, and strictly followed the procedures for formulating national food safety standards. The revision of this standard adhered to the principles of openness and transparency, fully listened to the opinions of relevant departments, industry associations, enterprises, and experts, ensured good connection with relevant standards and regulations, and publicly solicited opinions from all sectors of society.

To facilitate enterprises in better implementing the new “Standards for the Use of Food Nutrition Enhancers”, this standard will be officially implemented starting from January 1, 2013. At the same time, the Ministry of Health will work with relevant departments and industry associations to strengthen the publicity, implementation and training of the standard, guide the production and operation of food enterprises, and protect public health.

Food fortification is one of the important internationally advocated methods to improve residents’ nutritional status. It involves adding one or more micronutrients to specific foods to increase the intake of these nutrients by the population, thereby correcting or preventing micronutrient deficiencies and related diseases. In China, the “Hygienic Standard for the Use of Food Nutritional Fortifiers” (GB 14880-1994) was approved and issued by the Ministry of Health on February 22, 1994, and came into effect on September 1, 1994. Meanwhile, each year, the variety and scope of use of new nutrients are expanded or supplemented in the form of announcements by the Ministry of Health. With the completion of the sorting out work of China’s dairy product standards (especially infant food standards) and the revision and publication of other relevant basic standards (including GB 2760-2011, etc.), in order to better achieve effective connection with relevant standards, facilitate enterprises’ use and consumers’ understanding, and in accordance with the requirements of the “Food Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China”, the Ministry of Health revised and published the new national food safety standard “Standard for the Use of Food Nutritional Fortifiers” (GB 14880-2012) on the basis of the old version of the “Hygienic Standard for the Use of Food Nutritional Fortifiers” (GB 14880-1994), drawing on the management experience of food fortification from the Codex Alimentarius Commission and relevant countries, and combining with the nutritional status of Chinese residents.