Irish MEP wants limits set on use of trans fats in food

Irish MEP Jim Higgins

Irish MEP Jim Higgins has called on the European Commission to limit the maximum permissible content of trans fatty acids (TFAs) in food ingredients

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Irish MEP Jim Higgins wants limits to be introduced to restrict the amount of trans fats found in foods such as biscuits and ready meals.

Higgins said trans fatty acids are a factor in coronary heart disease (CHD) and has therefore proposed that the use of industrially produced trans fatty acids (TFAs) should be regulated.

The MEP has called on the European Commission to limit the maximum permissible content of industrially produced TFAs in all ingredients intended for food products for human consumption within the EU, to no more than 2% of the total fat content.

Individual countries have already attempted to regulate TFAs – which are naturally present in meat and diary products – although also industrially produced and used as an ingredient in processed foods.

Denmark became the first to do so in 2003, when it placed a restriction on TFAs contained within ingredients rather than the final product, leading to much lower concentrations of the harmful fats in the final product.

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