US FDA bans transfats used in many confectionery items

US food safety regulators this week announced a ban on partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), or trans fats, a key ingredient in shortenings used for many confectionery products.

Trans-fats or trans-unsaturated fatty acids, trans fatty acids, are a type of unsaturated fats that are uncommon in nature but became commonly produced industrially from vegetable fats for use in margarine, snack food, packaged baked goods and frying fast food starting in the 1950s

The US Food and Drug Administration, announced that PHOs, the main source of industrially produced trans fats, would be barred from the US food supply starting June 2018, adding, the step would save thousands of lives.

According to the FDA, PHOs were not "generally recognized as safe" due to their role in heart disease.

According to FDA officials, transfats were harmful even in very small quantities as they could add up to dangerous levels and would not permit the ingredient without an exemption.

Many people had been misled into believing the absence of the listing of trans fats on food labels was good enough to guarantee their safety from trans fats.

However partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) formed a primary dietary source of artificial trans fat in processed foods.

The US Food and Drug Administration reported on 16 June, 2015, that steps were being taken to eliminate artificial trans fats from processed foods.

It was anticipated the removal of artificial trans fat in processed foods would cut the incidence of coronary heart disease and help prevent thousands of fatal heart attacks every year.

Following a comprehensive review of scientific evidence, the US Food and Drug Administration had determined that partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) were not generally recognized as safe for use in food for people. Food manufacturers would be required to remove PHOs from their products in three years.

According to the FDA's acting commissioner Stephen Ostroff, MD, this action by the FDA dealing with such a major source of artificial trans fat showed the agency's commitment to the heart health of US citizens.

Susan Mayne, PhD, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said studies had revealed that diet and nutrition were instrumental in preventing chronic health problems, such as cardiovascular disease.

According to Fox News, the FDA had told the food industry to phase artificial trans fats out of their products.

The Obama administration had called trans fats a threat to public health and wanted them eliminated from processed food in the next three years.