Yahoo – AFP,
16 June 2015
 |
Trans fats
can be found in fried food and they are blamed for increasing the
risk of
coronary heart disease (AFP Photo/Paul J. Richards)
|
Washington
(AFP) - Partially hydrogenated oils, known as artificial trans fats, are not
safe to eat and must be removed from the food supply in the next three years,
US regulators said Tuesday.
Often found
in margarine, frosting, cookies, crackers and frozen pizzas, partially
hydrogenated oils (PHOs) are not "generally recognized as safe" for
use in human food, said the US Food and Drug Administration, finalizing the
agency's proposed ban on artificial trans fats in 2013.
 |
The FDA
says there has been a 78
percent decrease in trans fat consumption
over the
past decade (AFP Photo/Stan
Honda)
|
"This
action is expected to reduce coronary heart disease and prevent thousands of
fatal heart attacks every year."
Partially
hydrogenated oils carry no health benefits, and the Institute of Medicine has
previously determined that no level is safe for consumption.
Food
manufacturers in the United States have been required since 2006 to include
trans fat content information on canned and packaged food labels.
The law
still allows foods to be labeled as having zero grams of trans fat if they
contain less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving, but FDA officials said
that a separate effort is under way to change that, and that PHOs will no
longer be allowed in any foods after three years unless they get a specific
exemption from regulators.
The FDA has
said the labeling rule and actions taken by the food industry to remake many of
their products have already led to a 78 percent decrease in trans fat
consumption in the past decade.
"While
trans fat intake has significantly decreased, the current intake remains a
public health concern," the FDA said Tuesday.
 |
Food
manufacturers in the United States have been required since 2006 to
include
trans fat content information on canned and packaged labels (AFP
Photo/Stan
Honda)
|
Petitions
to allow
Food manufacturers
have three years to "either reformulate products without PHOs and/or
petition the FDA to permit specific uses of PHOs," the agency said.
By mid June
2018, "no PHOs can be added to human food unless they are otherwise
approved by the FDA."
The Grocery
Manufacturers Association said it was pleased with the three-year time period
because it "provides time needed for food manufacturers to complete their
transition to suitable alternatives and/or seek food additive approval," a
statement said.
The GMA,
which represents some 300 leading food and beverage companies, is planning to
file its own food additive petition to the FDA in the coming days, a spokesman
told AFP.
It
"will show that the presence of trans fat from the proposed low-level uses
of partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) is as safe as the naturally occurring
trans fat present in the normal diet," said the GMA in a statement.
 |
Partially
hydrogenated oils are not
"generally recognized as safe" for use in
human food, said the US Food and Drug
Administration (AFP Photo)
|
The FDA
move bans artificial trans fats, not the trans fats that occur in nature which
humans consume when they eat dairy, beef and lamb products.
Consumer
health groups applauded the FDA decision and said that artificial trans fat
harms the body by elevating bad cholesterol and lowering good cholesterol.
"The
eventual elimination of artificial trans fat from the food supply will mean a
healthier food supply, fewer heart attacks and heart disease deaths, and a
major victory for public health," said Center for Science in the Public
Interest executive director Michael Jacobson.
"The
final determination made today by the Food and Drug Administration gives
companies more than enough time to eliminate the last of the partially
hydrogenated oil that is still used in foods like microwave popcorn, biscuits,
baked goods, frostings and margarines."
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