Greens welcome latest folic acid moves

The Government's decision to defer mandatory fortification of bread sold in New Zealand with folic acid until 2011 is a prudent decision, and will give time to assess potential safety concerns around mandatory fortification, the Green Party’s Food Safety spokesperson Sue Kedgley said today.

Ms Kedgley also welcomed the decision by the Bakers Association to move towards voluntary fortifying a wider range of breads with folic acid in tandem with a market campaign aimed at those who may benefit - namely women of childbearing age who may not get enough folate through their diet or taking supplements.

“If you are going to require the addition of a synthetic additive to nearly all bread sold in New Zealand, you need to be absolutely confident that it will be effective; that nobody will get too high a dose; that there will not be harmful effects in the long term, and that there is no better way of achieving the desired outcome” said Ms Kedgley.

Ms Kedgley said that the New Zealand Food Safety Authority acknowledges that some sectors of the population, including children, could consume excessive amounts of folic acid, if almost all bread were fortified.

“This is a real issue given the significant scientific concern about the long term effects of mandatory fortification, in particular whether it increases the risk of accelerating certain types of cancer,” Ms Kedgley said.

“I call on the Government to set up an expert panel to review the latest evidence about the potential link between high levels of folic acid and the growth of pre-cancerous tumours and cells, and other adverse health effects.”

“Both Ireland and the United Kingdom are presently assessing emerging issues in cancer risk, and we should too.”
The Irish Government recently took a precautionary approach and put the mandatory fortification of bread on being put on hold. The amount of folate in the Irish diet has significantly increased through voluntary fortification leading to the Irish Food Safety authority pointing out that there would be 'no benefits to public health' from mandatory fortification.

“New Zealanders also need to be educated about the importance of eating natural unprocessed foods which are rich in folate,” said Ms Kedgley.

“Just eating whole grain bread instead of white bread will dramatically increase the folate intake of many people.”