Alarmed over the steep increase in obesity-related ailments in India, the Centre is planning norms for trans-fatty acid content in vanaspati oil by limiting it to 10 per cent and bring it down to five per cent in the next two years.
Along with this, the government also plans to introduce mandatory labelling providing information on saturated fat and trans fatty acids content on packs of vanaspati oil, hydrogenated vegetable oil, edible oil and other products containing TFA.
Sources in the health ministry disclosed that a notification putting the new norms in place will be issued soon. The step, sources said, has been taken after the scientific committee of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), comprising of experts from department of health research, Nutrition Development Association of India etc., recommended for it.
Currently, there are no limits under the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act on TFA content. The mandatory labelling requirements for packaged food products that were implemented in 2009 only made it compulsary for the manufacturers for stating nutritional information per serving on the packs.
FSSAI CEO V.N. Gaur told this newspaper that the recommendation has been made as the “TFA is bad for health and there should be a limit to it”. Trans fats are formed during the process of addition of hydrogen atoms to oils, a process industry prefers as it keeps the oil from turning rancid and ensures a longer shelf life. Sources say once the notification comes into effect, a review will be carried out after few years to see if its further reduction is needed.
The step gains significance as earlier even the Centre for Science and Environment laboratory report discovered that branded edible oils were full of unhealthy trans fats. The results showed trans fats in seven leading vanaspati brands were five to 12 times the two per cent standard set by Denmark.