Transfats
• Transfat, or trans- fatty acids, are unsaturated fatty acids that come from either natural or industrial sources.
• Naturally occurring trans-fat come from ruminants (cows and sheep).
• Industrially produced trans-fat are found in hardened vegetable fats such as margarine and are often present in snack foods, baked goods and fried foods.
• Industrially produced trans-fats are formed in a process that adds hydrogen to vegetable oil converting the liquidinto a solid, resulting in “partially hydrogenated” oil (PHO).
• Manufacturers often use them as they have a longer shelf life and are cheaper than other fats.
• Health Impacts: Intake of TFA is associated with increased risk of heart attacks and death from coronary heart disease
• Approximately 540,000 deaths each year globally and 60,000 in India can be attributed to intake of industrially produced TFA
Initiatives for controlling transfats
• WHO releases a trans-fat elimination report called Countdown to 2023
• Replace Action Framework: to eliminate industrially produced TFA from food
• WHO recommendation: Transfat intake should be less than 1% of energy uptake
• It is a part of Triple billion target of WHO: which covers 1 billion more people benefitting from universal health coverage, 1 billion more people better protected from health emergencies and 1 billion more people enjoying better health and well-being.
Initiatives taken by the Government of India
• Target to make country TFA Free
• Phased target: reduce TFA in all food products containing all oils and fats less than 2% from 1 January 2022
• Trans fat free logo: When food contains less than 0.2g per 100g or 100ml and if edible oils or fats contain less than 1g of TFA per 100ml or 100g
• Multilingual Mass media campaign called heart attack rewind campaign. This is run by FSSAI.
