chocolate cake (Photo : Reuters)
U.S. regulators announced a trans fats ban this week, affecting foods such as donuts, microwave popcorn, and frozen pizza. The banned partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs),will have a big impact on many bakeries, processed food makers, and other producers of mouth-watering sweet and fatty foods that include vegetable shortening.
Before full implementation of the ban, bake shops and other current producers of trans fat foods must find other cooking fats to use, such as palm oil, butter, and lard, according to Wired. However, the substitute ingredients could be expensive.
Besides higher operating costs, another possible effect of the ban on the unsaturated fats is the effect on taste and texture. Customers might hate the change.
In fact, many confections containing products such as margarine or Crisco have a distinct flavor thanks to PHOs. It is the key ingredient.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Tuesday that PHOs, the top source of commercial trans fat, will be banned beginning in June 2018. It argued that the bold move will save thousands of lives.
The FDA stated that one reason for the trans fat ban is that PHOs are usually not classified as "safe" even in small amounts, according to India. It will allow no exemptions.
One of the main properties of trans fats is that they do not melt at high temperatures, providing texture to canned icing, and creating a unique flavor in fried foods. They also boost baked goods' shelf life. However, after large-scale research the FDA concluded that the PHOs have no health benefits.
Food manufacturers were required to include trans fat info on nutrition labels starting in 2006. After the launch of a mini version of the PHO ban in 2013, producers of foods such as chewing gum called it "overly broad."
General Mills and other companies tried to persuade the FDA to set low caps on PHOSs, instead of a complete ban. However, it was not convinced.
The trans fat ban is partially due to its connection to the risk of heart disease, the top cause of death worldwide. 7.4 million people died of it in 2012.
