BEBIDAS ENRIQUECIDAS CON VITAMINAS ANTIOXIDANTES: ASPECTOS LEGALES Y ESTUDIO DE SU ETIQUETADO NUTRICIONAL

Due to the benefits of antioxidant vitamins A, E and C, in the protection of the organism against free radicals, they are being increasingly used by the food industry to enrich foodstuffs, including a large variety of beverages. On the contrary than in USA or Japan, in Europe there are no specific regulations to control these products. This legal gap is contributing to the confusion of the consumers, producing problematic situations in some sectors of the population, such as in the case of pregnant women. According to nutritional labeling, this type of enriched products must reflect the nutritional properties. To verify whether these products fulfil the regulation in this study we checked labels in 16 samples, observing irregularities in the about 81% of the products. These irregularities are mainly: incorrect expressions of vitamin contents, omission of vitamin A proportions regarding RDAs, and deficiencies in the lowest level of vitamin C for enrichment. © 2001 Altaga. All rights reserved.