On September 1 Defra published its long-awaited consultation on the technical revision of the Bread and Flour Regulations, accompanied by a detailed impact assessment.
The consultation is split into five areas: interaction with wider food legislation, folic acid, scope of the regulations, exemptions and enforcement.
Some of the suggested amendments – such as aligning with EU regulations in terms of minimum amount of nutrients to be added to flour, and using a form of calcium carbonate compliant with EU purity criteria – have already been implemented by UK millers.
But it’s important that these changes are reflected in legislation.
Other aspects, such as the need to coordinate with customers the addition of folic acid given the labelling implications, the review of the range of addition of calcium carbonate, or the enforcement principles, will all be addressed by UKFM’s technical and regulatory committee in the coming weeks.
The consultation also suggests creating new exemptions from fortification requirements for small mills (those producing less than 500 tonnes of non-wholemeal flour/year) and for products where flour is present as an ingredient at levels below 10 percent.
The latter has the potential to create more complexity to the production lines; it is therefore important that all implications are being considered ahead of making any change.
The consultation will close on November 23 and a summary of the responses is due to be published around mid-February 2023.
Should you wish to discuss aspects of the consultation please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Alex Costigliola.
The full consultation can be accessed here
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