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Calcium Enrichment of Flours, Grain Meals, Dried Milk, Dried Protein and Other Ingredients With Specialty Minerals SMI Calcium Carbonates

An alternate approach to providing extra dietary calcium is the addition of enriching amounts of calcium carbonate to ingredients consumers will use to prepare foods at home, or that will be used to manufacture foods consumers purchase. Calcium can be added to flours, grain meals, dried milks, and dried proteins.

Calcium carbonate is an excellent choice for this calcium fortification. It is a highly bioavailable form of calcium, provides a high elemental calcium content per unit—40 percent elemental calcium—and is economical in use.

Specialty Minerals Inc. (SMI) produces over 25 grades of calcium carbonates that can be used for ingredient fortification and enrichment: precipitated calcium carbonates (PCCs), ground calcium carbonates (GCCs), and ground limestones. 


Flour Calcium Enrichment With Calcium Carbonate
Wheat is the grain familiar to most of us as the basis of flour, but many other grains are used to make flours used in cooking; these include rice, oat, semolina, rye, spelt, and amaranth. All can benefit from calcium enrichment with calcium carbonate.

In the U.S., regulations for the enrichment of wheat flour are contained in the Code of Federal Regulations, 21CFR 137 Cereal Flours. Calcium can be added to both regular and self-rising flour standard products (that is, products with compositions defined by the government with names used in labeling).

21CFR 137.165 Enriched Flour and 21 CFR 137.185 Enriched Self Rising Flour: In addition to the required amounts of thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid and iron, calcium may be added. To claim calcium enrichment, the flour must contain 960 milligrams of elemental calcium per pound, or 454 grams, of flour. Using calcium carbonate, the 900 milligrams is supplied by using only 2.4 grams of 100% pure calcium carbonate, and 2.45 grams of calcium carbonate meeting the minimum 98.0% USP / Food Chemicals Codex (FCC) requirements for CaCO3 content. With other calcium salts, double or triple the amount could be needed because of their lower elemental calcium contents.

Other countries have their own regulations on enrichment, which should be checked for details and limits on calcium enrichment or fortification.

For flour enrichment, medium-sized calcium carbonates, in the range of 3 to 8 microns, are recommended, although with specific products, either smaller or larger particles may be preferred for sensory or other reasons. ViCALity® GF GCC, ViCALity® HP GCC, Vicron® 15-15 or Vicron®25-11 FG food grade limestones are SMI products made in the U.S. ViCALity® GF or ViCALity® HP GCC should be chosen if California Proposition 65’s lead limits are of concern. In Europe, Sturcal™ H or L PCCs are the applicable SMI’s products.


Calcium Enrichment of Corn and Other Meals
Corn meal, farina, oat meal, and rice are among the larger-particled grain forms that can also be calcium fortified. Again, in the United States, some of the meals sold as standard products can be calcium enriched.

21CFR 137.260 Enriched Corn Meal: may contain 500 to 750 milligrams of elemental calcium per pound or 454 grams, and the Self Rising form may have up to 1,750 milligrams of calcium per pound to be labeled as Calcium Enriched.

21CFR 137.305 Enriched Farina: must have at least 500 milligrams of calcium per pound to be called calcium enriched.

21CFR 137.350 Enriched Rice: to be considered enriched, forms of milled rice should have more than 500 milligrams of calcium per pound, and less than 1,000.  Note that calcium carbonate is often used in the milling of rice, to remove the husk. If the calcium remaining from the milling is less than the 500 mg minimum, it is considered to be a normal ingredient, and not optional enrichment.

Other meals, such as oatmeal, where standard-product ingredient definitions do not exist, can be calcium fortified as for other fortified foods, with the calcium added listed on the label. Local regulations should be checked in other countries before choosing a fortification or enrichment path.

As for flour, the medium-sized particles would be recommended. ViCALity® GF or ViCALity® HP GCC, especially where California Proposition 65 is a concern, or for other applications, a food grade Vicron® ground limestone.


Calcium Fortified Dried Cow’s Milk, Dried Soymilk,  Whey Protein and Soy Protein
Extra calcium can be added to dairy-based ingredients such as dried cow’s milk to further increase the elemental calcium per serving, an especially useful strategy in areas where drinking milk has not been a regular part of the diet. 

Unfortified soymilk contains only a small amount of calcium; only 10 mg elemental calcium per 100 ml of liquid soymilk. Calcium is added to liquid or dried soymilk or soy protein to bring the calcium content up to that of cow’s milk, 120 mg/100 ml, making it a calcium source for those who are lactose intolerant, who do not like the taste of cow’s milk, or who do not eat animal products.

For a dried milk or other ingredient that is to be incorporated into a baked good or other solid form of food, the medium sized particles recommended for flours and meals would be chosen: ViCALity® GF GCC, ViCALity® HP GCC, Vicron® food grade limestone, or in Europe, a Sturcal™ PCC.

For dried cow’s or soymilk that is to be reconstituted into a beverage, a small or nano particled PCC such as ViCALity Albafil® PCC, Calofort® U nano PCC or Multifex-MM® USP PCC should be used. These very small particled products, 0.7 micron and 0.07 micron, stay in suspension longer, and provide a smooth, chalk-free taste in the mouth. More information on the use of these products in liquid cow’s milk and liquid soymilk can be found using one of the links in the list below.


Bleaching of Flour
Calcium carbonate can also be used in conjunction with benzoyl peroxide to bleach flour. In the U.S., 21CFR 137.105 allows the combination of up to 6 parts of calcium carbonate per 1 part of benzoyl peroxide to be used in the dosage needed for bleaching. (But a calcium enrichment claim can only be made if the total calcium reaches the 960 milligram limit.) The scalenohedral, open structured grades of PCCs, such as ViCALity® Extra Light PCC and Calopake® Extra Light PCC, are used as carriers for peroxides. Their high surface areas and high oil absorptions make them ideal as peroxide bleach or catalyst carriers.

 

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