Bread additive rule may go

John Key on folic acid in bread and his Pacific tour

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Rules forcing bakers to add folic acid to bread could be scrapped within months of coming into force if the Government secures a review.

Food Safety Minister Kate Wilkinson said yesterday that she could reverse the 2007 decision to make folic acid mandatory in most bread from September regardless of the outcome of the review.

But there is a catch folic acid fortification was agreed under the trans-Tasman food safety treaty and Australian agreement is needed for any review.

That is unlikely before the next ministerial meeting in October, a month after the requirement takes effect.

Ms Wilkinson said New Zealand would lobby for support ahead of the summit and, if agreed, the review could be completed by January.

She believed New Zealand would then be free to take a fresh look at folic acid in bread.

"If the review is in place [completed], then at that stage we think we have the option to opt out, whatever the review says.

"My thoughts at the moment are that I would rather have fortification on a voluntary basis, thereby giving New Zealanders a choice."

Folic acid prevents some birth defects. Mandatory fortification with folic acid for all bread except organic and unleavened was agreed by Labour's food safety minister, Annette King, to prevent neural birth defects such as spina bifida.

But the move has met stiff resistance after research found folic acid could be an aggravating factor in prostate and other cancers.

Bakers and shopkeepers have also said that it will be costly to implement and a woman would need 11 slices of bread a day to get enough folic acid to protect against birth defects.

Ms Wilkinson said the science around the cancer risk was not robust, though she shared concerns about the possible cumulative effect over several years.

"By reviewing it in four months' time, or at the very latest two years when the standard is due for review anyway ... that cumulative effect won't have caused any food safety issues."

Greens food safety spokeswoman Sue Kedgley said Ms Wilkinson's insistence that New Zealand needed Australian permission to review what was in our food meant sovereignty over the issue had been lost.

"I can't believe that if it was the Australians wanting to change their mind they would be the slightest bit concerned about what New Zealand thought.

"She's acting as though we're completely impotent, as though we're completely unable to exercise our own decisions.

"It's not revolutionary we're just saying we want to push the pause button for three months while we do a review and that should be done now, not after the whole thing's been introduced."