| The current definition for dietary fiber in the “Guidelines on Nutrition Labeling （CAC/GL2-1985） ” was accepted in 2009 by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which leaves the decision to national authorities on whether to include carbohydrates from 3 to 9 monomeric units. Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling（CCMAS）reviewed and presented the updated list of appropriate methods of analysis for dietary fiber to select, which was accepted in 2011 and placed in the Codex Standard 234 as recommended methods. Multiple general methods are listed because it came to be known that there are some dietary fiber components not determined by the traditional methods（AOAC Method 985.29 and 991.43）. During the meetings ofCCMAS, there were some issues raised on resistant oligosaccharide （low molecular weight fraction; LMW-SDF）and resistant starch fraction （RS）to recover. In the discussion, it was agreed that for many foods types the naturally occurring LMW-SDF will be present in such small amount that their analysis is unnecessary and in practical both traditional methods and a new method to include RS determination （AOAC Method 2009.01） will provide similar results for the majority of processed foods. However, when a processed food is fortified with dietary fibers obtained from food raw material by physical, enzymatic or chemical means, or synthetic fibers for nutritional enrichment, it is essential to have an appropriate method to determine in terms of nutrition labeling. The current official analytical methods of Japan for dietary fiber are AOAC Method 985.29 and 2001.03, which are both listed in the current Codex Standard 234 and can be applied for many processed foods. It would be required to determine RS fractions only for a limited number of foods or ingredients by the specific method for RS. Dietary fibers have been recognized to have several beneficial physiological effects to health. Growing number of health-conscious consumers in Japan could lead and stimulate more nutraceutical and health foods development. It is essential to have appropriate, convenient and feasible methods for the appropriate food labeling. Key words : Codex, Dietary fiber, Definition, Analysis method, Nutrition labeling |
