Trans fats and its Regulation

Prelims: Current events of national and international importance |
Social Development

Why in News?

Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) at the 78^th World Health Assembly in Geneva, officially recognised 4 countries for their outstanding leadership in eliminating industrially produced trans fats from their national food supplies.

• Recognised countries – Austria, Norway, Oman and Singapore.
• The Director-General of the WHO, presented validation certificates to countries that effectively implemented best-practice policies and maintained robust monitoring and enforcement.

Countries must restrict trans fats to 2 grammes per 100 grammes of total fat or prohibiting partially hydrogenated oils, and also show strict enforcement and monitoring to qualify for the WHO's validation programme.

• Targets – WHO had set a target of covering countries that account for at least 90% of the global trans-fat burden with best-practice polices by the end of 2025 and at least 70% within each region.
  • By May 2025, such policies were adopted by 60 countries, covering 46% of the world’s population.
• Challenges – When WHO launched its call to eliminate industrially produced trans fats in 2018, only 11 countries representing just 6% of the global population had adopted best-practice policies.

• Regulation in India – In 2022, it enforced regulations limiting trans fats in oils & fats used in food products to no more than 2 %.
• The Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) 2^nd Amendment Regulations, 2021 placed India among the countries with best-practice trans-fat elimination policies.
• After Thailand, India was also led implementation of best practice policies in trans-fat elimination in Asia.

• Significance of reducing trans-fat - It can eliminate the cause of 7% of cardiovascular diseases globally and can help in achieving SDG of reducing premature death from noncommunicable diseases by a third by 2030.

Reference

Down To Earth| Recognising Best Practices of Reducing Trans fats