FSSAI tells food industries to cut trans-fat

India’s food regulator Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has asked the food industry to cut down trans-fat content of a large number of commercial foods including vanaspati, butter, margarine and sandwich spread by 50 per cent to make them healthy.

The FSSAI has notified that trans-fatty acid (TFA) content in food should not exceed five per cent by weight. The industry has been given time till August 2016 to switch to the new standards.

Regulation of TFA – found in large quantities in industrially-produced food as well as in baked and fried food – is important because of its adverse public health consequences.

There is a significant and growing body of medical evidence linking trans-fats to coronary heart disease, suggesting trans-fats may do even more harm than saturated fats.

“TFAs pose a higher risk of heart disease than posed by saturated fats. While saturated fats raise total cholesterol levels, TFAs not only raise total cholesterol levels, but also reduce the good cholesterol,” says Anoop Misra, former professor of medicine at All India Institute of Medical sciences.

Commonly available food with high TFA content include bhatura, puri, samosa, fried aloo chaat, halwa, aloo tikki, namakpara, kachori, fried namkeens, patty, french fries, cake, pastry, cookies and pizza. The primary sources are vanaspati, margarine, desi ghee and butter.

On the request of FSSAI, the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad carried out a risk analysis of trans-fat in Indian diet and recommended only one per cent total energy should come from the saturated fat and TFA.

Though the current food regulation allows TFA content up to 10 per cent, following the NIN study the FSSAI in 2014 came out with a draft notification on the five per cent TFA limit.

“The five per cent limit is a step in the right direction. Although slowly, we have progressed from having a 10 per cent limit first set a couple of years ago. We should aim to reduce it further to near-zero levels,” said Sunita Narain, director general of the Centre for Science and Environment.

The new standard would be applicable to three categories of food: fats, oils and fat emulsion; margarine and fat spreads; and hydrogenated vegetable oil.