FDA Increases the Amount of Vitamin D Allowed in Bread and Baked Goods using Vitamin D Yeast

August 29, 2012 –The FDA has today announced that the amount of vitamin D allowed in bread and baked goods is increased from a maximum level of 90 IU to 400 IU vitamin D per 100g when using vitamin D bakers yeast. Since many Americans are not meeting their needs for this vitamin, this will positively impact on their intake by making the daily bread in USA a greater “daily source” of vitamin D.

In December 2009, Lallemand Inc. had submitted a food additive petition, on behalf of the US baking industry, to amend the FDA food additive regulations to allow vitamin D in yeast based baked goods to be increased to  levels up to 400 IU per 100 grams of product when using vitamin D yeast (instead of the currently permitted level of 90 IU vitamin D per 100 g food).

Today’s change in the FDA regulation will allow American bakers to claim their products as “High”, “Rich In” or “Excellent” sources of vitamin D, giving them one more tool at their disposal to reinforce the contribution bread can make to a healthy diet. At that level, a health claim linking the vitamin D and calcium to help reduce the risk of osteoporosis will also be allowed. In order to make that claim, the baked good is required to contain a minimum of 20% of the Recommended Daily Intake of vitamin D and calcium per serving of stated size. Details of the FDA publication: federal register – article 2012-08-29, 2012-21353

More Vitamin D for Americans
Following the release of the Institute of Medicine recommendations in Nov. 2010, the Recommended Daily Allowances for vitamin D for Americans has tripled from 200 to 600 IU per day for children and adults up to age 70. According to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, vitamin D is one of the nutrients of concern in American diets because consumption of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, milk and milk products, and seafood is lower than recommended. American consumers are now more and more conscious of the health benefits of vitamin D. A recent Angus Reid survey conducted in the USA for Lallemand revealed that nearly 50% of American consumers believe that vitamin D plays a great role in maintaining or improving their health and more than 50% of consumers say they would prefer to buy bread that is naturally rich in vitamins than to buy bread that is fortified with vitamins.

Americans are encouraged to choose foods that provide more vitamin D, unfortunately their diet contains very few sources with too small amounts of vitamin D. Since more dietary sources of vitamin D are needed, this change of regulation gives the baking industry a golden opportunity to offer a solution to this problem. Lallemand yeasts (Eagle®, Lallemand®, Instaferm®, Vita D Plus®) are a natural and vegetarian source of vitamin D, enabling bakers to naturally enhance the vitamin D content of their baked goods, and bread in particular.

For additional relevant information, please refer to the Institute of Medicine Report Brief.

Shamla Moodley, Marketing Manager: +1 514 522 2133; smoodley@lallemand.com