Implementing Calcium Fortification: An Industry Case Study

Food manufacturers bear the responsibility of providing accurate nutritional information for the products they produce. Consumers and health professionals increasingly request more detailed information beyond what is supplied on the “Nutrition Facts” panel. Providing this information is a complex process due to confidential new product development and reformulation. Product reformulation regularly occurs for several reasons, including product improvement and flavor enhancement. This case study illustrates a major U.S. food manufacturerʹs experience with calcium fortification of childrenʹs cereals. Focus groups, modeling studies, and bioavailability tests were conducted prior to the productsʹ introduction. Early dietary intake research determined that childrenʹs average daily calcium intake was declining and that no gender or age group over age nine met the new recommended daily intake of 1300 mg. Cereal was found to be an appropriate vehicle to fortify with calcium, in the form of calcium carbonate. Bioavailability of calcium in cereal was found to be equivalent to the bioavailability of calcium in milk. From this case study, one can observe the difficulty of providing detailed nutritional information when a product is in the reformulation stage of its life cycle.