E for Additives. Maurice Hanssen
for a healthy diet include in their recommendations the view that we should cut down on our total fat intake, have a relatively high proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids (which are the sort of fats that you have in oils like sunflower, safflower, soya and corn) and consume less animal and dairy fat. This is because such a dietary change is thought to be good for the heart. However, the manufacturer is not allowed by law to tell you that! Before any claims relating to polyunsaturated fatty acids can be made the food has to contain at least 35 per cent of fat by weight. In that fat at least 45 per cent of the fatty acids must be polyunsaturated and not more than 25 per cent saturated.
The claim has to be accompanied by the words ‘low in saturates’ or ‘low in saturated fatty acids’ and the food must be marked with a declaration in grammes per 100 grammes or millilitres of the food stating the amount of fat or oil and the amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids (which are cis, cis-methylene interrupted polyunsaturated fatty acids) and also the amount of saturated fatty acids. Each pan of the declaration has to be given equal prominence.
If, in addition, the claim is made that it is low in cholesterol, then the food must not contain more than 0.005 per cent of cholesterol and it must be possible to make polyunsaturated fatty acid claims. As in the former case there can be no expressed or implied suggestion that such products are beneficial to health. You have to read the label carefully to see that such a claim is being made if you want to choose truly polyunsaturated margarines such as Flora or, from health stores, the very desirable Vitaquell which contains no animal or dairy ingredients and which has not been hardened by the hydrogenation process.
In the USA sensible and accurate claims for reduced cholesterol foods are allowed as are true statements about the advantages of polyunsaturates. So long as such claims are well controlled they could help many people to change their diet for the better and lessen the risk of heart disease.
Vitamins and Minerals
The Labelling of Food Regulations specify in two schedules the vitamins and minerals for which claims can be made. The word ‘claim’ has a specific meaning. Vitamins and minerals which are not in the schedule cannot be mentioned at all on a food product except in the nutritional declaration, the name of the product (if it is a food supplement) and the list of ingredients. Anything additional to these three places becomes a claim.
Where it is claimed that the food is a rich or excellent source of vitamins or minerals the quantity of food that can reasonably be expected to be consumed in one day must contain at least one half of the recommended daily amount of two or more of the vitamins or minerals in the schedule. Otherwise the claim that the food contains the vitamins and minerals can only be made if the quantity of food that can reasonably be expected to be consumed in one day contains at least one sixth of the recommended daily amount of two or more of the vitamins or minerals in the list.
If the claim is confined to named vitamins or minerals then every vitamin or mineral named must be specified in one of the schedules and is then subject to the same requirements as before. The names used in declaring the vitamins must be the names in the first column of the schedules, with or without the words that appear in three cases in brackets.
The names for other vitamins are also specified by law, and are: vitamin B6, pantothenic acid, biotin, vitamin E and vitamin K. The purpose of this is to prevent people making claims for the existence of vitamins that are not recognized by science, such as vitamin B17 and vitamin F.
The following are the two schedules:
Table A Vitamins in respect of which claims may be made
| Vitamin | To be calculated as | Recommended daily amount |
| Vitamin A | Micrograms of retinol or micrograms of retinal equivalent on the basis that 6 μg of beta-carotene or 12 μg of other biologically active carotenoids equal 1 μg of retinol equivalent. | 750 μg |
| Thiamin (vitamin B1) | Milligrams of thiamin. | 1.2 mg |
| Riboflavin (vitamin B2) | Milligrams of riboflavin. | 1.6 mg |
| Niacin | Milligrams of nicotinic acid or milligrams of nicotinamide or milligrams of niacin equivalent on the basis that 60 mg of tryptophan equal 1 mg of niacin equivalent. | 18 mg |
| Folic acid | Micrograms of total folic acid. | 300 μg |
| Vitamin B12 | Micrograms of cobalamines. | 2 μg |
| Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) | Milligrams of ascorbic acid or milligrams of dehydroascorbic acid | 30 mg |
| Vitamin D | Micrograms of ergocalciferol (vitamin D2) or micrograms of cholecalciferol (vitamin D3). | 25 μg |
Table B Minerals in respect of which claims may be made
| Mineral | To be calculated as | Recommended daily amount |
| Calcium | Milligrams of calcium. | 500 mg |
| Iodine | Micrograms of iodine. | 140 μg |
| Iron | Milligrams of iron | 12 mg |
Notes
1. Each vitamin and mineral specified in Tables A and B above includes its biologically active derivative.
2. The quantity of any vitamin or mineral specified in Table A or B above (as extended by note 1 above) shall be calculated in accordance with column 2 of the appropriate Table.
From Labelling of Food Regulations No. 1305, 1984.
The idea behind these two schedules was to prevent manufacturers from making claims for vitamins and minerals for which there is no evidence of a shortage. So the schedules represent vitamins and minerals which may be short in the diet and, therefore, all other vitamins and minerals are thought to be present in sufficient quantities in any likely diet. Unfortunately this has led to a very confusing situation, especially with regard to the sale of food supplements such as vitamin, mineral and trace element tablets and capsules which contain either a mixture of scheduled and non-scheduled substances or even exclusively non-scheduled substances. It means that neither in advertising nor on the pack can the manufacturer tell the consumer why the ingredient is there and what it does unless it is on the schedule. A mixture of vitamins A, C and E would therefore have a product description telling you all about vitamins A and C but not saying a single word about vitamin E.
There is much doubt as to whether the list is by any means appropriate to modern day living, and there is increasing evidence that there are substantial groups of people who do not have enough zinc, selenium, magnesium, or vitamins B6 and E. Groups