Food Standards: Amendment of Standards of Identity for Enriched Grain Products to Require Addition of Folic Acid; Clarification

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is clarifying how it intends to implement regulations that it issued in March 1996 that require that, by January 1, 1998, certain standardized enriched grain products be fortified with folic acid, with respect to foods to which this substance is to be added or that include ingredients to which this substance is to be added. Given that the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) has recommended that women of childbearing age consume at least 0.4 milligrams (mg) (400 micrograms (mcg)) of folic acid daily to reduce their risk of having a pregnancy affected with spina bifida or other neural tube defects, FDA encourages firms to initiate the required fortification before the 1998 effective date of the regulations. To facilitate initiation of fortification for firms who elect to voluntarily fortify foods in a manner that is consistent with the new folic acid fortification requirements, the agency is unlikely to enforce the ingredient declaration and nutrition labeling requirements of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the act) with respect to this nutrient until after January 1, 1998.