386 Total folate in enriched cereal-grain products in the U.S.: Results for the first year of fortification.

J. I. Rader. Office of Food Labeling, Food & Drug Admin., Washington, DC 20204.

The impact on folate intakes of FDA’s recent regulations mandating fortification of enriched cereal grain products with folic acid is of considerable interest. While surveys such as CSFII and NHANES provide information on food consumption, analytical data on the folate content of recently fortified foods are essential in order to accurately estimate intakes from these sources. The microbiological assay with tri- enzyme extraction (Food Chem. 62:451–465, 1998) was used to analyze more than 150 enriched cereal- grain foods including bakery products, flour, corn meal, rice, noodles and macaroni. Concentrations of folate in excess of those specified in Federal regulations were found in some groups of enriched products. For example, concentrations of folate in 6 of 11 enr iched flours significantly exceeded the specified level of 154 mcg/100 g. Similarly, levels of folate analyzed in 8 of 13 enriched macaroni products significantly exceeded the upper limit of the range of 198–264 mcg/100 g specified for these products. The high values may represent manufacturers’ excesses as well as the presence of higher than expected levels of endogenous folates. These results indicate that sound estimates of folate intake, and hence, of the impact of fortification, cannot be developed without extensive data on the actual concentrations of folate in recently enriched cereal-grain products.