Crackdown on high trans fat foods

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), which regulates food labeling, is examining the levels of trans fat in the Australian diet to see if food labels should be forced to say how much trans fat was used in particular products.

Trans fats are mainly found in deep fried fast foods and processed foods made with margarine or shortening, to improve taste, texture and shelf life. UK clinical studies recently published in the British Medical Journal have found the consumption of trans fatty acids can increase the chance of developing coronary heart disease by 23%.

While most locally produced food stuffs have much lower trans fat levels than those produced in the US or Europe, many nutritionists, including Rosemary Stanton, said many cheaper brands had a high trans fat content, and some foods high in trans fats such as chicken nuggets and pastries were not covered.

She has called for Australian food regulators to adopt the Danish standard which bans all products with more than 2% trans fat.

“Manufacturers don’t have to have this stuff. They can process their fats by other methods, it’s just a bit more expensive,” she said.

Nutritionists and researchers in cardiovascular nutrition expect that food labeling laws will be changed following the current FSANZ review.