Inspired by the Cholesterol thread...question about Trans Fat Labeling

[mickeysgal]

Does anyone know when companies have to be in total compliance with trans fat labeling? I thought it was 2006...sometime. Many of the products I have are already showing it. And I have the feeling that I'm not going to like what I see on some of my occasional treats (my favorite ice cream and Oreo's come to mind).

 

[Miss Jasmine]

I am not sure of the date. But I want to know how a product can claim 0 trans fats, but when you read the list of ingredients there is still partially hydrogenated oils in them. Those go right back on the shelf.

I buy the Newman's Own "oreos" as an occassional treat. No trans fats and still yummy.

 

[AprilN]

I am not sure of the date. But I want to know how a product can claim 0 trans fats, but when you read the list of ingredients there is still partially hydrogenated oils in them. Those go right back on the shelf.

Yeah, that's really frustrating - even with the new labels, you still can't trust them! Here's some information from the FDA website:

Q: Is it possible for a food product to list the amount of trans fat as 0 g on the Nutrition Facts panel if the ingredient list indicates that it contains "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil?"

A: Yes. Food manufacturers are allowed to list amounts of trans fat with less than 0.5 gram (1/2 g) as 0 (zero) on the Nutrition Facts panel. As a result, consumers may see a few products that list 0 gram trans fat on the label, while the ingredient list will have "shortening" or "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil" on it. This means the food contains very small amounts (less than 0.5 g) of trans fat per serving.

And here's some info about when you'll see the information on labels:

Q: It is after January 1, 2006. Why do some products not declare trans fat on their labels?

A: There may be two reasons why you are not seeing trans fat on a product's label.

First, products entering interstate commerce on or after January 1, 2006 must be labeled with trans fat. As this is happening, FDA realizes that it will take some time for food products to move through the distribution chain to a store shelf. Thus, it may take a few months for products that are listing trans fat on their label to show up on a store shelf. However, you will see many products with trans fat listed since companies have already begun to declare trans fat on their products' labels.

Second, FDA has granted enforcement discretion to some firms to use old label stock that do not declare trans fat after the effective date of January 1, 2006. In these cases, food firms followed the required process described in FDA's guidance for industry and FDA entitled, "Guidance for Industry and FDA: Requesting an Extension to Use Existing Label Stock after the Trans Fat Labeling Effective Date of January 1, 2006 (Revised)". For each request, FDA is considering whether the declared label value for trans fat is 0.5 g or less per serving. This information is important because lower amounts of trans fat would have less impact on public health than higher amounts of trans fat. Thus, trans fat information in the Nutrition Facts panel will be missing on some products (that contain lower amounts of trans fat) throughout the next year.

If trans fat is not declared on the label and you are curious about the trans fat content of a product, contact the manufacturer listed on the label.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Hopefully one day 0 will really mean 0.

 

[Az Pirates]

Thanks for the update. I had forgotten about the 1/06 deadline.

Sounds like we still need to be label detectives and put back anything that lists hydrogenated oil, partially hydrogenated oil, margarine or vegetable shortening anywhere on the ingredient list.

 

[mickeysgal]

Its going to be a numbers/serving size game. In order to make it look like an item is low in trans fats, they're going to dial down the serving size and hope that we don't notice. Case in point...Totino's frozen pizzas (yes, I know they're not good for you). They're very small (at the $2.00 price point) yet they're considered 2 servings. I don't know about you but my growning teen can swallow those whole. Otis Spunkmeyer (sp?) muffins...same thing. High in fat and each muffin is considered 2 servings. I can't wait to see how they handle Oreos (which many consider to be the King of Trans Fats). To control how awful the label is going to look, I guess they'll have to consider 1/6th of 1 Oreo to be one serving.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

This cannot be right: http://kraftfoods.com/main.aspx?s=contact_us&m=contact_us/faqview&faq_question_id=1292&N

How much trans fat is in a serving of Oreo cookies?

A serving of our regular Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookies--which is three cookies--contains 7 grams of fat, 2 grams of which is saturated fat and 0 grams of which is trans fat.

A comparable serving of our Reduced Fat Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookies contains 4.5 grams of fat, including 1 gram of saturated fat and 0 grams of trans fat.



There is NO WAY that three oreos has 0.50 grams of trans fats or less. The middle is all partially hydrogenated yuck.

 

[AprilN]

There is NO WAY that three oreos has 0.50 grams of trans fats or less. The middle is all partially hydrogenated yuck.

Well, it has taken Kraft almost 3 years to do it, but they have actually reformulated the Oreo, after being sued by Ban Trans Fats:

http://www.bantransfats.com/theoreocase.html

The new cookies aren't on the shelf yet (taking advantage of the FDA delay regulations I quoted above), but they will be showing up soon. We'll have to wait and see what the label says wrt serving size - hopefully they won't play that game...

The question is, how will the new Oreos taste?!?

 

[AprilN]

BTW, for those scientists out there, the reason for the 0.5-g reporting cutoff is because the food analysis methods used (typically IR) have too high of a detection limit. Here's an article discussing the situation, with a reference to the journal article:

Trans fat free--is it really?

Of course, the FDA is still to blame for not requiring the label to be "0.5g or less" rather than just 0.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Thanks for the article. I really think I am going to write the FDA, 0 should equal 0.