FSSAI's new policy limits trans fats to 2% in all oils & fats by Jan 2022

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has capped the amount of trans fatty acids (TFA) in oils and fats to 3% for 2021 and 2% by 2022 from the current permissible limit of 5% through an amendment to the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restriction on Sales) Regulations. It was in 2011 that India first passed a regulation that set a TFA limit of 10% in oils and fats, which was further reduced to 5% in 2015.

The country’s food regulatory body notified the amendment on December 29, more than a year after it issued a draft on the subject for consultation with stakeholders. The revised regulation applies to edible refined oils, vanaspati (partially hydrogenated oils), margarine, bakery shortenings, and other mediums of cooking such as vegetable fat spreads and mixed fat spreads.

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About the Trans Fat:

Trans fat regulation, that aims to limit the amount of “trans fat”, fat-containing trans fatty acids — in industrial food products, has been enacted in many countries.
These regulations were motivated by numerous studies that pointed to significant negative health effects of trans fat.
Trans fats are associated with increased risk of heart attacks and death from coronary heart disease.
As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), approximately 5.4 lakh deaths take place each year globally because of intake of industrially-produced trans-fatty acids. The WHO has also called for global elimination of trans fats by 2023.

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