The Food and Drug Administration's announcement today (Nov.
7) that trans fats could be phased out means that some popular food products
may need to be reformulated in the future to comply with the law.
The FDA said it has
taken steps to move trans fat out of its current category of food
ingredients that are "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS). If trans
fat are not GRAS, they would become illegal food additives, unless food
companies can prove that they are not harmful to health, which would be a
challenge, Michael R. Taylor, the FDA's deputy commissioner for foods and
veterinary medicine, told the New York Times.
Before the decision is finalized, the FDA is seeking public
comment for 60 days to hear from the food industry and other experts to
determine how long it would take food manufacturers to phase out trans fats,
and how the change would impact small businesses.
Trans
fats are produced when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil to make it more
solid, and companies began adding the ingredient to processed food in the 1950s
to lengthen the shelf-life and flavor stability of their products, the FDA
said. [3
Tips for Eating Less Trans Fat]
Since 2006, food companies have been required to list trans
fat on their labels, a law that pressured many manufactures to reduce trans fat
in their products. In fact, the average American today consumes about 1 gram of
trans fat daily, down from 4.6 grams in 2003, according to the FDA. U.S.
dietary guidelines recommend that people keep trans
fat consumption as low as possible.
However, trans fats can still be found in some processed
foods, and is listed on the ingredients label as partially hydrogenated oil.
Here's a list of some popular trans fat holdouts that may be affected by the
FDA proposal.