Milling & Baking News - March 18, 2014 - 29

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A.B.A. takes stand against proposed
ban on partial hydrogenation
WASHINGTON - Further decreases in the trans fat content of foods is
possible without the "extreme, unprecedented and unnecessary" approach of banning the use of partially hydrogenated oils, according to a
March 7 letter sent by the American
Bakers Association to the Food and
Drug Administration.
The F.D.A. in a Nov. 8, 2013, Federal Register notice said it tentatively
had determined that partially hydrogenated oils (P.H.O.s) are no
longer Generally Recognized As
Safe (GRAS) because they are the
primary dietary source of industrially-produced trans fat. If finalized,
the F.D.A.'s proposed rule would
mean food manufacturers no longer
would be permitted to sell partially
hydrogenated oils, either directly or
as ingredients in another food product, without prior F.D.A. approval.
The A.B.A. responded to the
F.D.A.'s request for comment through
the March 7 letter signed by Lee
Sanders, senior vice-president of government relations and public affairs.
"We believe that reducing consumption of trans fat in the U.S.
population is an important public
health goal, and A.B.A. members'
voluntary efforts have resulted in
extremely low levels of industrially-produced trans fat in finished
products - lower than the levels
presented by F.D.A. in its tentative
determination," she said. "Consequently, consumption of trans fat in
the U.S. has dramatically decreased
and will continue to decrease as industry continues to develop alternatives for the remaining few, but difficult to replace, sources of trans fat.
"Withdrawing the GRAS status
of one source of trans fat, therefore,
is an extreme, unprecedented and
unnecessary approach and sets an
unlawful standard for withdrawing
the GRAS status of ingredients."
The A.B.A. said it found several
flaws in the F.D.A.'s tentative determination.
According to the A.B.A. the proposed ban is at odds with the World
Health Organization, Health Canada and other countries' trans fat
policies in two significant ways.
First, their polices are directed at all
sources of trans fat rather than at a
single source of trans fat. Second,
Canada and several other countries
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that follow the W.H.O. recommendations have socialized medicine
health care systems and still do not
recommend a complete ban on partially hydrogenated oils or trans fat.
To enforce the rule, the F.D.A.
would need to provide standard
methods for determining whether a
substance is a partially hydrogenated
oil, according to the A.B.A. The Washington-based association proposes
that partially hydrogenated oils be
defined as an oil produced using hydrogenation processing of the base oil
to an Iodine Value (IV) of 5.1 or more.
The F.D.A. also needs to prove
why it no longer believes partially
hydrogenated oils are GRAS after
recognizing their GRAS status for
decades according to the A.B.A.
"Given the historical safe use of
P.H.O.s, F.D.A. bears the burden of

Washington

"F.D.A.'s tentative determination
that P.H.O.s are not GRAS for any use
is overly broad," Ms. Sanders said.
Both the F.D.A. and A.B.A. agree
trans fat intake has decreased since
2003, but they differ on how much it
has decreased.
The F.D.A. in July 2003 estimated
the mean adult intake of trans fat
from products containing partially
hydrogenated oils was 4.6 grams per
day. The F.D.A. recently estimated
the mean dietary intake of industrially-produced trans fat has decreased
significantly to about 1 gram per day,
or 0.5% of total energy intake. The
F.D.A. concluded some people still
may consume high levels of trans fat,
resulting in a daily intake of added
trans fat of about 2.1 grams per day.
According to the A.B.A., the F.D.A.
is basing this conclusion on the premise high-intake consumers regularly
eat products with the highest levels of
trans fat, including refrigerated biscuits,
ready-to-use frostings, certain brands

'Given the historical safe use of P.H.O.s, F.D.A.
bears the burden of demonstrating P.H.O.s are
no longer GRAS.'
- Lee Sanders,
American Bakers Association

demonstrating P.H.O.s are no longer
GRAS based on the consumption levels in today's diet," Ms. Sanders said.
No other country comparable to
the United States has taken a zero
tolerance approach to partially hydrogenated oils or to trans fat, according to the A.B.A.
The A.B.A. proposed several alternatives to the banning of partially
hydrogenated oils. The F.D.A. could
change the rounding rule for declaration of trans fat on the Nutrition
Facts panel to less than 0.2 grams per
serving from less than 0.5 grams per
serving. Currently, if a product has
less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per
serving, the F.D.A. mandates the level must be rounded down to 0 grams.
As another alternative, the bakers
said the F.D.A. could revisit the value
of adding a statement to the Nutrition Facts panel recommending that
consumers limit their intake of trans
fat (and saturated fat). Also, the F.D.A.
could declare certain uses of partially
hydrogenated oils as GRAS. Some partially hydrogenated oils contribute only
trace amounts of trans fat to the finished
food product, according to the A.B.A.

of frozen pizza and certain brands of
microwave popcorn. The A.B.A. called
these products "special occasion foods"
that would not be consumed often.
"A.B.A. members are continuing
to further reduce the use of P.H.O.s,
particularly as new functional alternatives become commercially available, but certain specialty and infrequently consumed bakery products
present unique challenges in trying
to develop effective alternatives to
P.H.O.s," Ms. Sanders said.
The A.B.A. added the F.D.A.'s
dietary intake assessment assigns
a value of 0.4 grams to foods that
declare 0 grams of trans fat on the
label. According to the A.B.A., most
reformulated bakery products use
palm oil or soybean oil and typically contain less than 0.2 grams of
trans fat that is from sources other
than partially hydrogenated oils.
The F.D.A. pointed to possible
unintended consequences resulting
from the banning of partially hydrogenated oils.
Consumers may confuse partial
hydrogenation with "essentially complete" hydrogenation and incorrectly
Milling & Baking News March 18, 2014 / 29

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Milling & Baking News - March 18, 2014

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