Enriched flour is flour with specific nutrients returned to it that have been lost while being prepared. These restored
nutrients include iron and B vitamins (folic acid, riboflavin, niacin, and thiamine). Calcium may also be supplemented. The purpose of enriching flour is to replenish the nutrients in the flour to match the nutritional status of the unrefined product. This differentiates enrichment from fortification, which is the process of introducing new nutrients to a food.
Requirements[]
According to the FDA, a pound of enriched flour must have the following quantities of nutrients to qualify: 2.9 milligrams of thiamin, 1.8 milligrams of riboflavin, 24 milligrams of niacin, 0.7 milligrams of folic acid, and 20 milligrams of iron. The first four nutrients are B vitamins. Calcium also may be added at a minimum of 960 milligrams per pound.
Enriching is necessary because the processing used to make white flour destroys some of these nutrients that originally were present in the whole grain, although enrichment typically only replaces 5 of the original 11 nutrients.