L11 Food Safety and Nutrition Concepts

Terminologies

• Malnutrition encompasses problems with both undernutrition and overnutrition.
• Food adulteration is the addition or mixing of unwanted materials into food, often reducing quality or safety.
• Incidental adulteration is the unintentional addition of foreign materials due to ignorance, negligence, or accident.
• Intentional adulteration involves a deliberate addition of unwanted materials to improve appearance, increase weight, or increase profits.
• Food additives are substances added to maintain safety, freshness, taste, texture, or appearance of food.
• The quantities of food additives have increased, while their quality has decreased over time.

Food Fortification

• Food fortification is the addition of nutrients to food to increase its nutritional quality. It is also known as food enrichment.
• The purpose of fortification is to help the population meet recommended nutrient amounts and combat malnutrition.
• Common fortified foods include iodine in salt, iron in wheat and maize flour, and vitamin A in edible oils.
• Fortification is often conducted in staple foods as these represent a significant portion of the diet of a population.
• Iron-fortified foods have a high impact on anemia, while other nutrients like vitamin A and folic acid are also important.

Restoration and Substitution

• Restoration replaces nutrients lost during food processing.
• In the UK, for example, iron, thiamine, and niacin must be added to white and brown flour to compensate for removal during milling.
• Substitution involves adding nutrients to produce a substitute product with similar nutritive value.
• Soya-based drinks may be fortified with calcium to mimic cow's milk.

Types of Food Fortification

• Biofortification: Develops micronutrient-dense staple crops using traditional breeding and biotechnology.
  • Examples include orange-fleshed sweet potatoes (high in carotene) and beans with improved iron content.
• Synthetic Biology Fortification: Improves taste and nutritional properties, and creates new foods.
  • Examples include algae butter and hypoallergenic peanuts, and nutrient rich probiotics to improve vitamin content in foods like yogurt.
• Commercial Fortification: Involves adding nutrients to common foods (like cereals, rice, and wheat) at the manufacturing level.
• Home Fortification: Adds micro-nutrient powders (MNP) or other supplements to homemade food to increase nutrient levels.

Advantages of Fortification

• Corrects nutrient deficiencies in areas where intake is low.
• A marketing advantage for manufacturers.
• Some added nutrients improve food quality, for example, vitamin C's antioxidant properties reduce spoilage rates.
• Fortifying flour with folic acid can prevent neural tube defects in babies.

Regulations

• Fortification regulations vary; some countries mandate it, while others allow voluntary additions.
• Regulations create safety limitations and specify minimum nutrient levels.
• Vitamins and minerals are commonly fortified, but unprocessed foods and beverages with a high alcohol content are often excluded.

Flour Fortification

• Nutrients can be lost during flour milling.
• UK regulations require adding specific amounts of iron, calcium, thiamine, and niacin back into white and brown flour.
• Products made from fortified flour, like bread, also benefit from fortification.

Fortification of Breakfast Cereals

• Breakfast cereals are often fortified with micronutrients like B vitamins, iron, calcium, and vitamin D.

Margarine Fortification

• In the EU, margarine must contain a minimum of 80% fat, a maximum of 3% milk fat, and be fortified with specific levels of vitamins A and D.

Salt Fortification

• The WHO recommends iodine addition to salt to combat iodine deficiency, and this is known as universal salt iodization.

Food Supplementations

• Supplementations provide concentrated nutrients (like minerals and vitamins) or substances with dietary benefits in measured doses (e.g., pills, tablets, capsules, liquids).
• These are highly concentrated forms of nutrients produced by pharmaceutical companies.
• Examples include vitamin and iron supplements for pregnant and lactating women.
• Supplements are designed to correct nutritional deficiencies.

Infants and Dietary Supplementation

• Young children may have difficulty obtaining sufficient amounts of certain vitamins (e.g., vitamin A, C, and D) through their diet.
• Many European Union countries provide supplements for infants from 6 months to 5 years.

Pregnancy and Dietary Supplementation

• Pregnant women are recommended to take supplements, such as:
  • Folic acid (400 µg daily) during conception and pregnancy's early stages.
  • Vitamin D (10 µg daily) throughout pregnancy.
  • Iron supplements (40 to 50 mg daily) beginning in the 10th week of pregnancy.
• Dairy products are an important source of calcium. If milk or dairy products are not consumed, supplemental calcium is recommended.