for adults meets or exceeds the UL for children (as is the case for vitamin A, zinc, niacin, and folate) or young women who may become pregnant (and thus have a lower UL for vitamin A). The committee was also to consider the extent to which the discretionary addition of nutrients to food when based on labeling reference values alone may have the potential to increase risk due to overconsumption. The committee was not to address the format of the Nutrition Facts box, labeling claims, or fortification practices other than in relation to discretionary fortification.

After its review of these items the committee was to produce a report that provided the rationale and recommendations for the selection of reference values for nutrition labeling based on the DRIs. The report was to include a description of the purpose of reference values in nutrition labeling and to identify guiding principles for the selection of reference values for different nutrients. Based on the development of the reference value approach for nutrition labeling, the committee was to provide guiding principles for the discretionary fortification of food, including meat and poultry products.

The committee met six times between March 2002 and April 2003 to consider its scope of work, review scientific evidence, and develop its recommendations and guiding principles. At these meetings the committee focused its analysis on the history of nutrition labeling and fortification, current labeling and fortification policies, the existing DRIs, and the limited information on consumer use of nutrition labeling. It held two open workshops to gather information from invited experts, government scientists, representatives of the food industry, and related groups on issues related to the nutrition labeling of food and dietary supplements and discretionary fortification.

During the committee process the Canadian government issued several consultation documents on the development of new policies on food fortification (Health Canada, 2002) and published new regulations for food labeling (Canada, 2003). Also during this time IOM released a report on the DRIs for macronutrients (IOM, 2002a) and a report on using the DRIs in dietary planning (IOM, 2003). The committee included these documents in its deliberations. A report on DRIs for electrolytes and water was not sufficiently finalized to be included in the committee’s deliberations. The committee was cognizant of the timing of its recommendations while