08/11/2013 | 04:21 PM

FDA takes steps to ban artificial trans fats

SILVER SPRING, MD—The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Nov. 7 that it is taking steps to eliminate artificial trans fats from the American diet, saying the fats are no longer “generally recognized as safe” for consumption.

“While the consumption of potentially harmful artificial trans fat has declined over the last two decades in the United States, current intake remains a significant public health concern,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. in a press release.

Consumption of trans fat—often described as “bad” cholesterol—can result in increased risk of coronary heart disease.

The reduction of trans fat in the American diet could prevent 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths from heart disease annually, Hamburg added.

The FDA is currently in the process of asking manufacturers how long it would take to reformulate products without trans fats during a 60-day comment period.

Numerous retailers and manufacturers, according to the FDA, have already demonstrated that they are capable of making products without harmful trans fats.

Since 2003 the intake of trans fat among Americans has declined from 4.6 grams per day to about 1 gram per day in 2012, according to the FDA.

“Food manufacturers have voluntarily decreased trans fat levels in many foods in recent years, but a substantial number of products still contain partially hydrogenated oils, which are the major source of trans fat in processed food,” said Michael Taylor, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine.