Brussels, 15/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 15 October, NGOs working in the health field and multinationals from the agri-food sector joined the European Consumers Bureau (BEUC) to urge the European Commission to introduce legislation imposing limits on the use of industrial trans fats (TFAs) in food.
Pastries, fries and margarine are among the foodstuff most loaded with those scientifically proven artery-clogging fats. Nestlé, Mars, Kellogg's and Mondelez International co-signed an open letter that BEUC sent to the European Commission on Thursday 15 October, calling for an EU-wide legal limit of 2 grams of TFAs per 100 grams of fat and encourages others to follow suit.
Since 2006, BEUC has continuously called on the EU to introduce legislation that imposes legally binding limits in this area and has welcomed this initiative. It is calling on other food companies to do likewise. BEUC Director General Monique Goyens affirmed: “It is high time the Commission heeds our call and helps EU consumers drop their trans-fat intake by fixing legal caps”.
Industrially-produced trans-fatty acids are meant to extend products' shelf life, enable repeated heating or help the fat become solid. They have long been favoured by the industry because they are cheap but they have no nutrition benefit for consumers. BEUC pointed out that trans-fats have been proven to increase risks of heart disease and stroke by raising “bad cholesterol and lowering the good one” as acknowledged by EFSA in 2010.
Nonetheless, during the foodstuff labelling reform in the EU, which led to the adoption of the regulation in 2011 on providing information to consumers about foodstuffs (Regulation 1169/2011), the EU Council refused to ensure that there was a compulsory mention in the obligatory nutritional statement (as demanded by the European Parliament). Currently, it is the principle of self-regulation in the food sector for reducing industrial trans fats that has prevailed. This principle dates back to the 1990s when scientific proof illustrated the dangers of these unsaturated fats on health. Therefore, the member companies and organisations of the European Margarine Association (IMACE) developed a code of good practices in 1995. Based upon these practices, they are committed, on a voluntary basis, to actively encouraging their customers to use margarines whose levels of trans fats are less than 2%. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)