The legislation around vitamins and minerals claims can feel overwhelming. If you mess up your calculations, not only are you misleading your consumers, but you'll have serious legal problems on your hands.

As a food and drink product development consultant with over a decade of industry experience, I've seen too many businesses stumble at this crucial hurdle.

If you're struggling with negative reviews, decreasing sales, or finding product development overwhelming, getting your nutrition and health claims right is absolutely essential.

Today, I'm showing you exactly the steps to follow to nail your vitamins and minerals claims every single time.

Is Your Product Considered Fortified Food?

Before we dive into calculations, the first thing you need to double-check is whether your product qualifies as fortified food. Your product is considered fortified if you use vitamins and minerals to:

• Improve the nutritional values of your product
• Address common deficiencies in the population
• Compensate for losses that occur during processing

This is completely different from mandatory fortification (like you see with flour and margarine), specific food groups (such as infant formula or medical foods), or food supplements. Each of these follows their own distinct legislation.

Here's something crucial that trips up many businesses: if you're using vitamins and minerals for reasons other than fortification – like homogeneity, stability, or preservation – they're classified as additives.

For example, when I use potassium citrate as an acidity regulator for one of my clients' products, it gets declared in the ingredient list as an acidity regulator or by its E number.

Today, we're focusing specifically on fortified food – vitamins and minerals you add to improve nutritional value or address deficiencies.

Which Vitamins and Minerals Can You Actually Add?

If you're selling in the UK, you must refer to the Great Britain Vitamins and Minerals and Other Substances Register. This document is your bible – it lists exactly which vitamins and minerals can be added to food and their approved forms.

For instance, you can add vitamin C, but only in specific forms like L-ascorbic acid, sodium-L-ascorbate, or calcium ascorbate.

The document also clearly shows restricted and prohibited substances. Always check this first before adding anything to your product – it could save you from costly reformulation later.

Calculating the Right Amount for "Source of" Claims

To use the nutrition claim "Source of vitamin or mineral," you need at least a "significant amount" of that vitamin or mineral. I know what you're thinking – what on earth is a significant amount?

The significant amount refers to the daily reference intake (RI), also called nutrition reference values (NRVs). Here are the rules you need to follow:

Single Portion Products

For food and beverages containing one single portion, the vitamins or minerals must account for a minimum of 15% of the reference intake per portion.

Multiple Portion Products

For recommended serving sizes less than 100g or 100ml: The vitamins or minerals must account for a minimum of 15% of the reference intake per portion.

For food products with serving sizes above 100g/100ml or no serving size: The vitamins and minerals must account for a minimum of 15% of the reference intake per 100g or 100ml.

For drink products with serving sizes above 100ml or no serving size: The vitamins or minerals must account for a minimum of 7.5% of the reference intake per 100ml.

Real-World Examples That Make It Clear

Let me give you some practical examples using vitamin C, which has a daily reference intake of 80mg for adults:

Single can of drink (250ml): You need 12mg of vitamin C (15% of 80mg)

Block of cheese (350g) with 30g serving size: You need 12mg of vitamin C per 30g serving, so 140mg total in the product

Ready meal (800g): You need 12mg of vitamin C per 100g, so 96mg total

Flavoured water (1L): You need 6mg of vitamin C per 100ml, so 60mg total

Understanding Health Claims

Most health claims actually refer back to nutrition claims. Taking vitamin C as an example, if you want to claim "Vitamin C contributes to the normal function of the immune system," your product must contain at least a "Source of" amount of vitamin C.

It's that simple – use the same calculations I've shown you above.

Don't Forget Your Labelling Requirements

Once you've got your calculations right, this information must appear on your nutrition labelling. It's mandatory, just like protein, sugar, carbohydrate, and fat content.

You need to show both the amount and the percentage of the recommended intake.

Read the blog post Nutrition & Health Claims: What Food Business Owners Can Actually Say (And What Will Get You in Trouble) for more details. 

The Critical Step Most Businesses Skip

Here's where I see businesses trip up time and again: it is not a compulsory, but I always recommend to do a lab testing, especially over shelf life. Because you need to guarantee to consumers that the vitamins and minerals are actually present in your product throughout its entire shelf life.

Some vitamins and minerals are incredibly sensitive to light or temperature and degrade very quickly. If your shelf life is six months, you must ensure the exact amount indicated on your packaging is there from day one to day 180.

This is why overages are common in the food industry. Because vitamins and minerals degrade over time, it's often better to start with slightly higher quantities to guarantee the labelled amount remains at the end of shelf life.

Getting It Right Every Time

The legislation might seem complex, but follow these steps systematically:

1. Confirm your product qualifies as fortified food
2. Check the GB Vitamins and Minerals Register for approved substances
3. Calculate the required amounts based on your product format
4. Include the information in your nutrition labelling
5. Conduct lab testing over shelf life
6. Consider overages for degradation-prone nutrients

Remember, always double-check the register for any exceptions to these rules.

Your Next Steps

If you're feeling overwhelmed by nutrition and health claims, or if you're struggling with negative reviews and decreasing sales, getting your product development right is crucial. The science behind exceptional products isn't just about flavour, texture, packaging or branding – it's about understanding every regulatory requirement that could make or break your success.

Stop wasting time and resources on guesswork. With the right approach to vitamins and minerals claims, you can create amazing products that are good for people and the planet while staying completely compliant with UK legislation.

Struggling with product development challenges? As a food and drink consultant with over a decade of industry experience, I help established businesses perfect their flavour profiles, streamline product development, and unlock the path to retailer listings.

Look at my Food Legislation Audit services and get in touch to discuss how we can transform your products and boost those customer reviews.

Useful links

Great Britain register on the addition of vitamins and minerals

Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 ANNEX XIII Reference Intakes

Great Britain Nutrition and health claims (NHC) register⁠ 

⁠Great Britain ‘On hold’ health claims⁠ 

⁠EU Register of Health Claims⁠

⁠EU Register of Nutrition Claims