Defined by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the terms ‘enriched’ & ‘fortified’ are probably terms you’ve seen on food packaging but never truly understood what they meant. Although occasionally used interchangeably, these terms have two separate meanings.

Enriched - the addition of nutrients back into a food that was lost during processing as a means to restore its nutrition. Examples of enriched foods include enriched flour, enriched bread, and enriched pasta.

Fortified - the addition of nutrients into a food that are not naturally occurring in the food itself. Examples of fortified foods include iodized salt and cow’s milk fortified with vitamin D.

In the United States, as in most parts of the world, fortification of food was initiated as a systematic approach to correct identified nutrient deficiencies in the population. In 1924, iodine was first added to salt on a voluntary basis in an attempt to address the prevalent health problem of goiter in the United States. This program was begun only after a number of prominent national health organizations of the time, the American Public Health Association, the Council on Foods and Nutrition of the American Medical Association (AMA), and the Committee on Food and Nutrition of the National Academy of Sciences, recommended this step based on new research demonstrating that sodium iodide prevented goiter.

Therefore, the enrichment and fortification of the US food supply has been a major public health success.

REFERENCES

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2017) Key Findings: Folic acid fortification continues to prevent neural tube defect. Accessed online: [ Ссылка ].

2. Food Insight (2017) Fortification FTW (For the Win). Accessed online: [ Ссылка ].

3. Institute of Medicine (2003) Dietary Reference Intakes: Guiding Principles for Nutrition Labeling and Fortification. Available online: [ Ссылка ].

4. Dwyer JT, Wiemer KL, Dary O, Keen, CL, King JC, Miller KB, Philbert MA, Tarsuk V, Taylor CL, Gaine PC, Jarvis AB, Bailey RL (2015) Fortification and Health: Challenges and Opportunities. Available online: [ Ссылка ].

Royalty Free Music from Bensound

***All views expressed on this channel are my own and do not represent the opinions of any entity whatsoever with which I have been, am now, or will be affiliated.***

свернуть