Bakers to bear brunt of folic acid debacle

Bakers to bear brunt of folic acid debacle

Baking Industry Association of New Zealand (BIANZ) President Jason Heaven says the organization wants the implementation of the folic acid law postponed until a final decision on the issue is made.

Statements made by Prime Minister John Key indicate that he isn’t wholly in favour of the new law, which will make the addition of folic acid to bread products mandatory, and welcomes a review. However a final decision will not be made until October this year, after the law comes into effect. The Prime Minister told Breakfast TV that it is not the consumer who will be affected by the delayed decision but bakers who will have to make all the changes necessary to add folic acid to their bread products when it becomes mandatory in September, and then reverse these if the law is dropped.

BIANZ Executive Officer Belinda Jeursen says plant and craft bakeries around the country will spend millions of dollars in the process of introducing folic acid to their products. “A change like this involves enormous compliance costs - changes to methods and processes, educating staff and having new labels made. If the law is reversed again a few months after its introduction, you can double that cost. In the current economic climate, the baking industry can’t afford to bear the cost of this sort of indecision.”

Both plant and craft bakeries have made it clear that they cannot guarantee folic acid will be added in the right amounts. Folic acid is added to flour at the mills in Australia, whereas bakers here will be adding it at the bakery in its raw form or as part of an improver or premix. Jason Heaven says the practicalities of it concern him most. “How will it work? How will we add it in the proper amounts? What if I’m using two ingredients in the same product and they both contain folic acid. Am I then doubling up?”

Belinda Jeursen says no-one she has spoken to has definite answers to these sorts of questions. “The Prime Minister himself has said he doesn’t think it’s going to work. 87% of New Zealanders have indicated they don’t want this. We need to let common sense prevail, and common sense says defer implementation until a final decision is made.”

BIANZ will continue to advise its members to begin preparations to implement the plan in accordance with the law.

ENDS

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