Removing trans fats from food supply over heart disease concerns
The US Food and Drug Administration has a terrible reputation when it comes to protecting the consumer’s best health interest but now finally decided to do something about the hydrogenated oils following decades of protest from heath advocates
One wonders how it will last before they will start doing something about gmo’s and the worst big food company on the planet Monsanto (don’t hold your breath)
US to eliminate trans fats from food supply over heart disease concerns
US Food and Drug Administration to remove partially hydrogenated oils more than a year after it said it would and after decades of lobbying by health advocates
The US Food and Drug Administration will all but eliminate partially hydrogenated oils from the food supply by 2018, it announced on Tuesday, almost a year and a half after the agency first announced its intention to do so.
“The FDA’s action on this major source of artificial trans fat demonstrates the agency’s commitment to the heart health of all Americans,” said the FDA’s acting commissioner Stephen Ostroff. “This action is expected to reduce coronary heart disease and prevent thousands of fatal heart attacks every year.”
The FDA’s decision will not go into effect for three years. The agency said this will allow companies time to reformulate their products or apply for an exemption.
The decision comes after decades of lobbying by health advocates and scientists who say there is a scientific consensus that the artificial oils commonly called “trans fats” clog arteries and contribute to heart disease.
“There’s no real reason for having it in the food supply,” said Alice Lichtenstein, Gershoff professor of nutrition and science policy at Tufts University. “What we really want to do is provide the US population with the safest food supply possible.”
