The World Health Organisation (WHO) has awarded its first-ever certificates validating progress in eliminating industrially produced trans fatty-acids to five countries.
Key points
- Denmark, Lithuania, Poland, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand have each demonstrated they have a best practice policy for industrially produced trans-fatty acids (iTFA) elimination in effect.
- WHO also released results from the first five years of its REPLACE initiative to eliminate iTFA.
- While the ambitious target set by WHO in 2018—to fully eliminate iTFA from the global food supply by the end of 2023—was not met, there has been remarkable progress made towards this goal in every region of the world.
- A total of 53 countries have now best practice policies in effect for tackling iTFA in food, vastly improving the food environment for 3.7 billion people, or 46% of the world’s population, as compared to 6% just 5 years ago.
Best practices
- Best practices in iTFA elimination policies follow WHO criteria and limit iTFA use in all settings. There are two best-practice policy options: 1) mandatory national limit of 2 grams of iTFA per 100 grams of total fat in all foods; and 2) mandatory national ban on the production or use of partially hydrogenated oils (a major source of trans fat) as an ingredient in all foods.
Trans-fatty acids (TFA)
- Trans-fatty acids (TFA) are semisolid to solid fats that occur in two forms: industrially produced and naturally occurring.
- Industrially-produced trans fat is a man-made harmful compound found in foods, fats and oils.
- Intake of TFA have no known health benefits, and foods high in iTFA (e.g. fried foods, cakes and ready meals) are often high in sugar, fat and salt.
- TFA is one of the main risk factors for noncommunicable diseases and increased TFA intake (>1% of total energy intake) is associated with coronary heart disease events and mortality.
- In 2018, WHO released the REPLACE action framework for TFA elimination Trans fat clogs arteries and increases the risk of coronary heart disease.
