In the article, "Technological issues associated with iodine fortification of foods ," authors Winger, Konig and House describe some of the potential interactions of iodine compounds with foods. This article is of considerable interest because it goes into a range of possible problems associated with high-level iodine fortification - that is, the addition of iodine compounds directly to the finished foods.

Although the authors attempt to make it clear that the negative consequences of iodine fortification of foods would only occur at high levels of fortification and would never be the result of using iodized salt, they do not unequivocally state that, for all intents and purposes, whole formulated food products would never be iodized at levels that would impact the color, flavor or functionality of those foods.

If whole, formulated foods will never be iodized to those levels which can impact on the quality of the food, then the whole issue becomes moot and should not be confused with the use of iodized salt in food products.

Iodized salt can be used in formulating all food products without any fear of reducing quality.

Perhaps it would have been useful for the authors to have made that simple statement of fact.

The New Zealand Bakery Association has blasted FSANZ, warning that its new requirement of iodized salt in bread "will be expensive, claiming there are not a lot of facilities to process iodised salt in the country." The bakers apparently duped foodnavigator.com writer Charlotte Eyre on that point and another: that "iodine is a nutrient commonly found in salt."

Noting that "half truths are the most insidious," the Salt Institute responded, defending the FSANZ decision and pointing out that:

1. Plain salt has 1/100th the amount of iodine of iodine-fortified salt; it may be detectable in a lab, but it's insignificant nutritionally.

2. Salt iodization is not expensive; it costs pennies per year per person.

3. New Zealand may not have "a lot of facilities to process iodised salt," but it's a small country, well-served by Salt Institute member companies Dominion Salt of New Zealand and Cheetham Salt of Australia whose few plants make virtually all the food salt in the country and which can easily accomplish the required iodization virtually with the flip of a switch.

Surely the bakers have better fights to fight.