Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of micronutrient deficiencies in the English diet, including minerals; and what discussions they have had, or plan to have, with the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board about consideration of the nutritional quality of varieties in the recommended lists for cereals and oilseeds, with regard to micronutrients.

The Department of Health and Social Care’s National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) provides information on dietary intakes of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) and blood markers of nutritional status for adults and children. The UK Scientific Advisory Committee for Nutrition has conducted risk assessments on the adequacy of specific micronutrients in the UK diet and made recommendations.

Defra's genetic improvement network initiative supports breeding research which identifies beneficial genetic traits to improve productivity, sustainability and resilience of UK crops including wheat varieties and oilseed rape. No research has been undertaken on micronutrients.

Defra engages regularly with the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) on a range of agricultural matters. However, these discussions have not included the consideration of micronutrient content in relation to the Recommended List of cereal and oilseed varieties.