THE GOVERNMENT SAYS YOU WILL STILL HAVE A “CHOICE” OVER FOLIC ACID. SO EXPLAIN THIS. From 13 December 2026, folic acid is to be compulsorily added to non-wholemeal common wheat flour in the UK at 250 micrograms per 100g of flour. One of the government’s answers to people who don’t want to consume added folic acid is that they will still have a choice. Their own consultation response says: “individuals are able to avoid fortified flour if that is their choice.” How? The government says people can choose unfortified wholemeal flour and other non-wheat products instead. Fine. So I went shopping and deliberately bought Tesco Finest Sliced Wholemeal Bread. Not white bread. Not brown bread. WHOLEMEAL BREAD. Now look at the ingredients on the packet. The first ingredient is indeed: Wholemeal Wheat Flour But further down the ingredients is this: Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium, Folic Acid, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin] So the “wholemeal bread” I deliberately selected already contains FOLIC ACID. That makes the government’s argument about consumer choice look considerably less straightforward than “just choose wholemeal”. And there is an even stranger question. Current government guidance on the Bread and Flour Regulations states: “the word ‘wholemeal’ is only allowed in the name of the bread when all of the flour used as an ingredient is wholemeal.” It goes on to say that a combination of wholemeal and white flour “must not be named ‘wholemeal bread’”. Yet here I am holding a packet which says: “Sliced wholemeal bread” while the ingredients appear to identify both “Wholemeal Wheat Flour” and a separate “Wheat Flour” containing folic acid. Perhaps Tesco has a technical explanation for this particular ingredient and its classification. I’d certainly like to hear it. But put the labelling issue to one side for a moment, because the wider point matters. The government has chosen a population-wide fortification policy The government’s response was that people would still be able to avoid fortified flour by consuming unfortified wholemeal flour and other products. But how meaningful is that “choice” for an ordinary shopper? Apparently it isn’t enough to walk into a supermarket and think: “I don’t want added folic acid, so I’ll buy wholemeal bread.” You need to turn over every packet, put your glasses on and inspect every flour ingredient to see whether folic acid has been added somewhere in the product. And this isn’t just about loaves of bread. Non-wholemeal wheat flour is used throughout the food supply: cakes, biscuits, pastries, pies, pizza bases, breadcrumbs, breaded chicken and fish, batter, sauces and countless processed foods. The government itself says the folic acid must appear in the ingredients list of pre-packed products containing the affected flour. In other words, the burden of exercising this supposed “choice” is being placed on the consumer. I’m not arguing here about whether pregnant women should take folic acid. We already know why folic acid before and during early pregnancy is recommended. I’m asking a different question: If the government relies on consumer choice as part of the justification for mandatory fortification, shouldn’t that choice actually be simple, obvious and practical? Because buying a packet prominently labelled WHOLEMEAL BREAD and then discovering FOLIC ACID in its ingredients demonstrates rather neatly why saying “people can choose wholemeal” isn’t an adequate answer. And before somebody says “well, just read the ingredients” — that’s precisely the point. If opting out requires checking the small print of every loaf, cake, pie, sauce, breadcrumb coating and processed product you buy, that is very different from the impression created by saying consumers remain free to choose wholemeal products instead. This packet is a perfect example. I chose wholemeal. I still got folic acid. So where, exactly, is the simple choice we were promised? @Tesco #folic