U.S. Government Requires Trans-Fat Labels on Food

Summary: Trans-fat = Hydrogenated = Hydrolozied = B A D

It’s great to see this information getting out there. I wish this info was available for the dishes served at restuarants as well.

“U.S. Government Requires Trans-Fat Labels on Food

Wednesday July 9, 1:13 pm ET

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – All packaged foods sold across America will have to carry labels telling people how much artery-clogging trans-fats they contain under new U.S. government regulations issued on Wednesday.

Trans-fatty acids are a component of fat and found in all animal fats, from meat to butter. They are also made synthetically when food processors harden fat to make it more like butter in a process called hydrogenization.

Found in meat, milk, cookies and fries, trans-fats raise cholesterol, especially ‘bad’ or LDL cholesterol.

‘Trans-fats are bad fats. The less trans-fat you and I eat, the healthier we will be,’ Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson told a news conference.

He promised more regulation regarding nutrition claims and labeling. ‘This is just the beginning of a lot more rules and regulations about this. We are moving now very rapidly,’ Thompson said.

While food labels warn consumers about saturated fats, which also raise cholesterol, there is currently no way to know for sure whether a food contains trans-fats.

The new requirement, which takes effect as of January 2006, comes a year after government advisers at the Institute of Medicine recommended it. It was first proposed in 1999 but HHS and the Food and Drug Administration (News – Websites) re-opened the comment period twice.

‘Trans-fats can no longer lurk, hidden, in our food choices,’ said Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr. Mark McClellan.

GROUPS WELCOME NEW MOVE

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, which has been pressing for labels, said the move ‘will spur companies t”