Food and Drug Regulations

D.01.003 (1) For the purposes of these Regulations, the vitamin content of a food, other than a formulated liquid diet, a human milk substitute or a food represented as containing a human milk substitute, shall be determined

• (a) in the case of vitamin A, in terms of the content of retinol and its derivatives and beta-carotene, expressed as retinol equivalents (RE) on the basis of the following relationships:

  • (i) 1 RE = 1 microgram retinol, and

  • (ii) 1 RE = 6 micrograms beta-carotene;

• (b) in the case of vitamin D, in terms of the content of cholecalciferol and ergocalciferol, expressed in micrograms;

• (c) in the case of vitamin E, in terms of the content of d-alpha-tocopherol and dl-alpha-tocopherol and their derivatives, expressed in milligrams on the basis of the following relationships:

  • (i) one milligram d-alpha-tocopherol = one milligram vitamin E, and

  • (ii) one milligram dl-alpha-tocopherol = 0.74 milligram vitamin E;

• (d) in the case of vitamin K, in terms of the content of phylloquinone and menaquinones, expressed in micrograms;

• (e) in the case of vitamin C, in terms of the content of L-ascorbic acid and L-dehydroascorbic acid and their derivatives, calculated in milligram equivalents of L-ascorbic acid and expressed in milligrams;

• (f) in the case of thiamin, thiamine or vitamin B₁, and its derivatives, in terms of the content of thiamin, expressed in milligrams;

• (g) in the case of riboflavin or vitamin B₂ and its derivatives, in terms of the content of riboflavin, expressed in milligrams;

• (h) in the case of niacin, in terms of the content of niacin and its derivatives, calculated in milligrams of nicotinic acid, plus the content of tryptophan, calculated in milligrams and divided by 60, with the total expressed as niacin equivalents (NE);

• (i) in the case of vitamin B₆, in terms of the content of pyridoxine, pyridoxal and pyridoxamine and their derivatives, calculated in milligram equivalents of pyridoxine and expressed in milligrams;

• (j) in the case of folacin, in terms of the content of folic acid (pteroylmonoglutamic acid) and related compounds exhibiting the biological activity of folic acid, calculated in microgram equivalents of folic acid and expressed in micrograms;

• (k) in the case of vitamin B₁₂, in terms of the content of cyanocobalamin and related compounds exhibiting the biological activity of cyanocobalamin, calculated in microgram equivalents of cyanocobalamin and expressed in micrograms;

• (l) in the case of pantothenic acid or pantothenate, in terms of the content of d-pantothenic acid, expressed in milligrams; and

• (m) in the case of biotin, in terms of the content of biotin, expressed in milligrams.

(2) For the purpose of paragraph (1)(h), the content of tryptophan may be calculated

• (a) where the protein originates from a food that contains protein from more than one source or from a source other than milk, meat, poultry, fish or eggs, as constituting 1.1 per cent of the protein;

• (b) where the protein originates from milk, meat, poultry or fish, as constituting 1.3 per cent of the protein; and

• (c) where the protein originates from eggs, as constituting 1.5 per cent of the protein.