A final nail for trans fats? EU sets maximum levels but phasing out is already well underway

29 Apr 2019 --- Few areas of nutritional composition have come under as much scrutiny in recent years as trans fats, which are most prevalent in products containing partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs). Following bans in the US and Canada last year, new rules to apply in the EU will be a further nail in the coffin for what were once ubiquitous ingredients.

New rules announced last week set an EU maximum limit set that corresponds to 2 grams of industrially produced trans fats per 100 grams of fat in the food intended for the final consumer and food intended for the supply to retail. Also, businesses must provide information on the amounts of trans fat in food supplied to other businesses if the limit of 2 grams is exceeded. This Regulation will apply as from April 2, 2021.

Industrially-produced trans-fatty acids, like margarine and some hardened vegetable fats, are popular among food producers because they are cheap and typically have a long shelf-life. But given their link to cardiovascular disease, trans fats have also been blamed for more than 500,000 deaths annually, according to World Health Organization (WHO) figures.

New rules announced last week set an EU maximum limit set that corresponds to 2 grams of industrially produced trans fats per 100 grams of fat in the food intended for the final consumer and food intended for the supply to retail.Trans fats raise “bad” cholesterol levels (low-density lipoprotein) in the blood, which is a risk factor for heart disease; they also reduce the blood levels of “good” cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein), which protects against heart disease. Replacing PHOs in foods with unsaturated fatty acids, such as canola oil, decreases the risk of heart disease.

Trans fat or trans fats are also called trans fatty acids. Trans fats are a particular type of unsaturated fatty acids. In EC Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 trans fat is defined as “fatty acids with at least one non-conjugated (namely interrupted by at least one methylene group) carbon-carbon double bond in the trans configuration.” Some trans fats are produced industrially. PHOs – primary dietary source of industrial trans fats – generally contain saturated and unsaturated fats, among them trans fats in variable proportions (with trans fats ranging from a few up to more than 50 percent), according to the production technology used. Trans fats can also be naturally present in food products derived from ruminant animals such as dairy products or meat from cattle, sheep or goat.

Last Wednesday (April 24), the European Commission adopted a new Regulation to set a maximum limit on the use of industrially produced trans-fat in foods in the EU. The measure “aims at protecting consumers' health and providing Europeans with healthier food options.” Over the years, a number of scientific studies, including one from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), have stressed that the dietary intakes of trans fat should be as low as possible in order to avoid health risks.

A scientific and technical assistance on trans fatty acids published by EFSA on June 18, 2018 read: “Data from controlled intervention studies show that consumption of diets containing TFA has adverse effects on blood lipids that predict an increase in coronary heart disease (CHD) risk compared with the consumption of diets containing cis‐monounsaturated fatty acids or cis‐polyunsaturated fatty acids, and that the effect is dose‐dependent. Prospective cohort studies showed a consistent association between higher intakes of TFA and increased risk of CHD. The consistency of the evidence from these two types of studies provides strong support for the conclusion that TFA intake has a dose‐dependent linear effect that increases the risk of CHD as compared to the intake of other fatty acids in the diet. With few exceptions, latest national and international recommendations indicate that dietary intakes of TFA should be as low as possible.”

The industry group FoodDrinkEurope last week welcomed the adoption of a new EU regulation, claiming that most of the work has already been done. “Thanks to product reformulation and innovation efforts over the past decades, the majority of Europe’s food and drink sector has successfully eliminated industrial trans fats in foods – to such levels that EFSA concluded in 2004 that the total intake of trans fats in most EU Member States is below the WHO recommended level of 1 percent dietary energy. As a result, EFSA confirmed that, overall, trans fats are not a source of public health concern in the EU,” a statement read.

The group continued that with the adoption of the Regulation this week, food manufacturers will have until April 1, 2021, to ensure products comply with the limit of 2g of industrially produced trans fats per 100g of fat in food intended for the final consumer and food designed for the supply to retail. “Now that a legal limit has been set at EU level, FoodDrinkEurope recommends the deletion of the mandatory labeling requirement for hydrogenation as part of the next round of labeling updates to Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, given that such labeling will be redundant,” the group noted.

In Europe, the move to low trans food products was already started more than two decades ago, stresses Margreet van Altena, Communication Specialist at Cargill Oils & Seeds EMEA. "In some specific products like pastry margarines and spray dried products, partial hydrogenated fats with high levels of trans fatty acids are still used mainly for the texture and the shelf life. We have developed alternative fats many years ago which are being used by our customers in EU." She notes how only a few or their customers still use partial hydrogenated fats with high levels of trans fatty acids. "We are in the process of helping these customers to reformulate to the best fitting alternative, based on the low trans portfolio we have developed over the years," she tells FoodIngredientsFirst. 

Van Altena stresses that the debate on trans fats started in Europe well before becoming a topic in the US. "The upcoming European legislation is the formal and finalizing step to complete the European transition to low trans. The US regulatory changes as well as the WHO recommendation result from processes, all aiming at the same goal of limiting the intake of trans fatty acids," she notes.

Denmark was the first country to ban industrially-produced trans fats in food in 2003, by limiting the amount of trans fat to 2 grams per 100 grams of fat or oil. Oils labeled “trans fat free” could not contain more than 1 gram per 100 grams of fat.

As a result, the trans fat content of food products declined dramatically and cardiovascular disease deaths declined more quickly than in comparable OECD countries, the WHO says. Seven countries in the European region now have an outright legal ban on trans fat.

The US and Canada are among the countries following in Denmark’s footsteps in this area.

Since June 18, 2018, manufacturers of products to be sold in the US must ensure that their products no longer contain PHOs for uses that have not been otherwise authorized by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA). The ban was rolled-out across all US restaurants and grocery stores following a three year phase out period.

Mid-September 2018, marked the beginning of a ban on Canada’s PHOs, the largest source of industrially produced trans fat in foods. It is now illegal for manufacturers to add PHOs to foods sold in Canada. This includes Canadian and imported foods, as well as those prepared in all food service establishments.

The ban was announced in 2017 to give industry to time to adapt and came into effect on September 17 with the addition of PHOs to Part 1 of Health Canada’s List of Contaminants and Other Adulterating Substances in Foods.

Now the push is going further. In May 2018, the WHO unveiled a plan to eliminate the use of trans fats, extending progress in wealthier countries to those in poorer ones.

The benefits of trans fat bans on public health are already emerging. For example, last month, a study published in the American Journal of Public Health confirmed that levels of trans fatty acids in New Yorkers’ blood have dropped significantly since the ban on restaurants using trans fats took effect in 2007.

The results revealed that while overall blood trans fat levels had fallen by around 57 percent, people who frequently dined out benefited from an even greater decrease of around 62 percent; indicating that that the ban on in restaurant foods has been effective in reducing cardiovascular risk.

By Robin Wyers