The principle applied to the fortification of foods is that only vitamins and minerals that occur also normally in food and are necessary to humans may be added to foods. The Regulation on Fortified Foods defines these vitamins and minerals as well as the permitted compounds on which a safety assessment has been conducted. The list of the permitted compound forms is binding and no other vitamin or mineral compounds may be used to fortify foods.
When importing fortified foods from outside the EU, in particular, it shall be verified that the vitamin and mineral compounds used are permitted in the EU.
The vitamins, minerals and compounds of these permitted for use as fortification of foods are found in annexes I and II to the Regulation on Fortified Foods.