FDA urged to ban import of foods containing transfat acids

Visith Chavasit, a health expert at Mahidol University's Institute of Nutrition, yesterday said the results from a recent study of 309 food items in local markets found five items that were "high risk" and contaminated with transfat acids. The items included butter, puff pastry, yeast doughnuts and cake doughnuts.

These items contained transfat acids of more than 0.7 per cent per gram per serving, which is over the food production standard according to the US's Food and Drug Administration, said Visith.

Trans fat is made when manufacturers add hydrogen to vegetable oil, thus helping to extend the shelf life and "flavour stability" of foods containing the fat.

Trans fat can be found in vegetable shortenings, some margarine, crackers, cookies, snacks and food made with or fried in partially hydrogenated oil. A small amount of trans fat is found naturally in animal products.

Trans fats - like saturated fat and dietary cholesterol - raise LDL cholesterol and increase the risk of coronary heart disease.

However, there is no regulation requiring food manufacturers to eliminate trans fat from their production, along with imported raw materials such as margarine and shortening for making bakery products.

Visith said the FDA should impose a regulation to ban the import of margarine, shortening and hydrogenated oil which contain transfat acids. He believes the regulation could reduce the risk of coronary diseases caused by transfat consumption.

Coronary ailments are still the No1 killer disease in Thailand. There are 50,000 heart patients a year, only 11 per cent of whom can access treatment.

Tippawan Parinyasiri, director of the FDA's food control division, said the agency would issue a regulation to ban the import of transfat acids, but needed to study the pros and cons of banning and controlling food production. She said the study would be finished by next year.

"We need more academic information to show us that trans fat in food production is really a critical point for Thai consumers to be aware of," she said.

by Pongphon Sarnsamak

The nation