European court tells Netherlands to open up on fortified foods
foods with added vitamins and minerals without requiring
manufacturers to prove that there is a 'nutritional' need for such
products.
Under Dutch national food law, foods fortified with vitamin A or D, folic acid, selenium, copper or zinc, may not be marketed unless they do not pose a risk to public health and also meet an actual nutritional need.
But in a case brought by the European Commission, the European court of justice ruled that this second requirement, when used alone, obstructed the free trade of products in the European Union.
The case concerned Kellogg's breakfast cereals fortified with vitamin D and folic acid and a range of fortified with folic acid made by Inkosport Nederland. Both companies marketed their products elsewhere in the EU but had been prevented from selling the goods in the Netherlands.
The court ruled: "Although the criterion of nutritional need of the population of a Member State can play a role in its detailed assessment of the risk which the addition of nutrients to foodstuffs may pose for public health, the absence of such a need cannot, by itself, justify a total prohibition, [on the basis of free trade in Europe]".
The issue underlines the need for a harmonized law on the fortification of foods, proposed by the European Commission in November last year. The proposal never reached its first parliamentary vote because of controversy over many of the same issues that prevented progress on the health claims regulation, including nutritional profiles.
Until this regulation is brought in, European states can ban fortified foods if they show a risk to public health.
However the issue is set to become increasingly complicated for food manufacturers who are adding vitamins and minerals to more and more products to meet consumer demand for health benefits. Mintel data shows that around 8 per cent of all new food and drink launches last year contained added vitamins and minerals.
Danish food authorities have also banned a number of Kellogg's cereals and cereal bars, most of which are already sold around the world, under a risk assessment approach that evaluates current nutrient intake of its population.
The Kellogg's products were deemed to pose a risk, particularly to children, by lifting dietary intake above the upper safe levels for vitamins and minerals established by the European scientific committee on food.
