The AFGC CEO said the US is catching up to Australian standards, following the announcement by the US Food and Drug Administration that there will be a three year phasing out of trans fats in the USA.
Dawson said there has been successful work in Australia to cut the amount of trans fats in the Australian diet to extremely low levels by international standards.
“Australians typically obtain around 0.6 per cent of their daily kilojoules from trans fats. Of this, about half come from naturally occurring sources. This is well under the World Health Organization recommendation to consume less than 1 per cent of daily kilojoules in the form of trans fats,” said Dawson.
“The level of trans fats in the Australian diet is low because manufacturers of many products recognised this as an issue more than 10 years ago and took steps to remove them from their products.”
“The food industry’s partnership with the National Heart Foundation “Tick” program has also provided an incentive for manufacturers to reduce the use of trans fatty acid containing fats in their products. “
“Through innovation and reformulation Australian soft margarines have been free of trans fat for over 10 years and a number of companies have moved to take them out of their biscuits and confectionary lines. There are excellent commercial frying oils now available that are virtually free of trans fats,” Dawson said.