Indian Govt to impose trans fat limits on vanaspati soon

Harish Damodaran New Delhi, Nov. 29 Vanaspati makers are apprehensive over a proposed regulation seeking to limit the Trans Fatty Acids (TFA) content in their product to 10 per cent by early next year and to 5 per cent over the subsequent three years. The Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), it is learnt, is in the process of drafting a notification fixing the above limits in line with the recommendations of the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad. "The draft limits are to be put up shortly on the FSSAI's Web site to invite public comments within 45 days, after which the final version would be notified", sources told Business Line. The Prime Minister's Office had earlier directed that the norms for TFAs be laid down by December, 2009. Vanaspati is basically partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (PHVO). Its manufacture involves adding hydrogen to edible oils to raise their melting point and transform the liquid fat into a harder product mimicking desi ghee (milk fat). Characteristics By doing so, the oil becomes more stable and less prone to oxidative rancidity (chemical decomposition arising from reaction with oxygen). As a result, not only do the foods cooked or fried in vanaspati have longer shelf life, but also the taste and smell characteristics of the original (non-hydrogenated) oil is maintained. For these reasons, vanaspati has, over time, emerged as the "poor man's ghee", used in restaurants, bakeries, sweetmeat units and low income homes. The downside, however, is that the very process of hydrogenation leads to formation of TFAs. As hydrogenation proceeds, the TFA content (as a percentage of total fatty acids) increases and then decreases only after the melting point is raised to levels that make the resulting vanaspati so hard to put off consumers. Soyabean oil The problem is more in oils having high poly-unsaturated fatty acids, such as soyabean, cotton seed and rice bran. In soyabean oil, the TFA content is around 28 per cent at a melting point of just 33.5 degrees Celsius, rising to 37.6 per cent at 43.7 degrees and falling to zero at 68 degrees. For rice bran oil, the TFA is as high as 65 per cent even at a melting point of 41 degrees. TFA is not as much an issue with palm oil. The TFA level is zero at a melting point of 34.5 degrees, hitting a maximum of 17.3 per cent at 51.5 degrees, when the product becomes fully solid. "If the proposed 10 per cent TFA limits kick in, we will become completely dependent on imported palm oil and lose the flexibility to use domestically produced oils," said a Delhi-based vanaspati manufacturer. While palm oil currently accounts for some 95 per cent of industry's raw material, "the cost equation can change if the Malaysians or Indonesians push up prices or the Centre hikes import duties to protect domestic oilseeds growers," he said. Melting point limit The industry, he said, is not against any move to reduce TFAs, given the scientific evidence linking them to coronary heart disease and diabetes. "What we want is removal of the existing melting point limit of 41 degrees prescribed for vanaspati under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act. This will give us the leeway to meet the proposed TFA limits by blending hydrogenated hard fractions with soft oils," the official added. According to the industry, melting point is of little relevance "because all oils are first split into fatty acids to enable their absorption". What matters is their digestibility, which has hardly any correlation to melting point. "That is why the international CODEX standards do not refer to any melting point limits for PHVO and margarine," he said. Source : The Hindu Business Line

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