On October 4, 2019, the Union health minister Harsh Vardhan formally launched the ‘Trans-Fat Free’ logo during the 8th International Chefs Conference in New Delhi.
Food establishments that use trans-fat free fats/oil and do not have industrial trans fats more than 0.2 g or lesser trans-fat per 100 g or 100 ml of food, in compliance with the Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, 2018, are eligible to display the logo. The use of the logo by restaurants and food manufacturers, however, is voluntary.
Though the use of the logo is voluntary on paper (food establishments ‘can’ display it if they want to), the FSSAI has, in fact, made it binding on the food business operators to comply with the regulation. The argument is that if the food establishments are made to display the logo ‘trans-fat free’ then they necessarily would have to use reduced trans fat and go for healthier alternatives. The FSSAI has stressed in its letter that food business operators who make the claim—of having trans fat below 0.2 g per 100 g/ml of food—will have to comply with the requirements as specified in its regulations.
As part of ‘Eat Right India’ led by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), India aims to gradually reduce industrially produced trans fatty acids on food supply to less than 2 per cent by 2022, moving towards a zero-trans fat regime in the years to come. Since 2018, FSSAI has been pushing the industry to reduce trans-fatty acids in margarine, vanaspati, and edible bakery shortenings in a phased manner. At present, the trans fat content is limited to 5 per cent; it is to be reduced to 3 per cent by 2021 and 2 per cent, by 2022. India’s objective of eliminating trans fats by 2022 in a phased manner is a year ahead of the global target set by the World Health Organisation (WHO), that is, by the year 2023. Denmark, Chile, Norway, Singapore, and South Africa have already successfully limited trans fats in all foods to 2 per cent. High-income countries have virtually done away with industrially produced trans fat by imposing limits on their amount in packaged food.
According to FSSAI regulations, the maximum permissible limits for Total Polar Compounds (TPC) have been set at 25 per cent, beyond which the cooking oil becomes unsafe for consumption.
As chefs are a very important part of our food ecosystem, they have a responsibility of ensuring that the food they cook is safe, nutritious, and healthy, especially with the growing popularity of quick-fix junk food. About 1,000 chefs from different parts of the country took a pledge, under the slogan ‘Chefs 4 Trans Fat Free’, to switch to trans-fat-free oils/fats in their recipes.
Infobits
Trans fats
Trans fats, the unhealthiest types of fats, are largely present in partially hydrogenated vegetable fats or oils, vanaspati, margarine, and bakery shortenings, commonly found in baked and fried foods. Industrial trans fats are made by adding hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils so as to make them more solid, and to increase the shelf life of foods.
Popular foods such as cakes, frozen pizza, tortilla chips, cookies, biscuits, coffee creamer, etc., are especially dangerous, and could even be linked to breast cancer. Foods laden with trans fats contribute to heart disorders.
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