PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Flour: Folic Acid (11 March 2020)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will consider the potential merits of exempting traditional heritage windmills from proposed mandatory fortification of flour with folic acid.

Asked by:
Dr Caroline Johnson (Conservative)

The recent consultation on the proposed mandatory fortification of flour with folic acid to help reduce neural tube defects in foetuses did specifically ask people to highlight any potential impact of this policy on small and medium businesses. People who responded to the consultation did not have to identify themselves or any sector they may be representing. However, of those who did, 50 identified themselves as working in the heritage/artisan milling sector. Officials from the Department have met with representatives from the The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) Mills Section and the Traditional Cornmillers Guild and visited wind and watermills to understand at first hand the practicalities around fortification in those premises. We have only the publicly available data on the number of traditional mills; noting that not all buildings manufacture flour as some are museums. Ministers are currently considering the consultation response analysis and further information will be provided in due course.

Answered by:
Jo Churchill (Conservative)
19 March 2020