FDA to Phase Out Trans Fats

Trans fat poses a health risk and will be banned, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Thursday, Nov 7.

Health concerns about the artificial fat have long led consumers to avoid the food additive which can be found in numerous processed foods—including cookies, cakes, baked goods, refrigerated dough, vegetable shortening, margarine, frozen foods, and coffee creamer. The fat is valued for its long shelf life and ability to hold flavor.

New York City first banned restaurants from using trans fat in 2006. That same year the FDA required food makers to label how much trans fat a food contains. Following New York City, 15 states, cities, and towns also banned restaurant use of trans fat. Ten fast food chains have also stopped using trans fats.

Research has shown trans fat can contribute to plaque buildup in arteries, which increases the risk of heart attacks.

In the announcement, the FDA cited estimates by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that cutting trans fat in foods could prevent 20,000 heart attacks a year and save 7,000 people from dying of heart disease.

The agency has yet to set a timeline for the phase-out, but it will collect comments for two months before officials determine how long it will take. Different foods may have different timelines, depending how easy it will be to find a substitute.

“We want to do it in a way that doesn’t unduly disrupt markets,” said Michael Taylor, FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods. Still, he says, the food “industry has demonstrated that it is, by and large, feasible to do.”

To phase them out, the FDA already determined that trans fats no longer fall in the agency’s “generally recognized as safe” category, which is reserved for thousands of additives that manufacturers can add to foods without FDA review.

Scientists say there are no health benefits to trans fats, as they raise levels of so-called “bad” cholesterol and increase the risk of heart disease—the leading cause of death in the United States.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.