The principle applied to the fortification of foods is that only vitamins and minerals that occur 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 vitamins, minerals and compounds of these permitted to be used in fortification of foods are found in Annexes I and II to the Regulation on Fortified Foods. The list of the permitted compounds 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.
Vitamins and minerals added to food shall be indicated in the ingredient list using the names listed in Annex XIII to the Food Information Regulation, for example “vitamin D” or “Calcium”. In addition to this, it is possible to supplement the name of a vitamin or mineral in the list of ingredients with the vitamin or mineral compound used, for example “Calcium (calcium carbonate)”.
However, new vitamin and mineral compounds authorised as novel foods shall be indicated on the list of ingredients in accordance with their conditions of use. Authorised novel foods and their conditions of use are listed on the Union list for novel foods (EU) 2017/2470 (latest consolidated version).