Both the US FDA and Health Canada are working towards reducing trans fats from the food supply by banning the use of partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs).
Trans fats occur in foods both naturally (in animal products such as milk and beef) and artificially, predominantly as partially hydrogenated oils (found in products such as margarine and vegetable shortening.) PHOs are frequently used in food manufacturing because they have a longer shelf life than other fats.
Many studies have shown that trans fats increase the risk of heart disease by increasing the levels of “bad” cholesterol. Therefore, various health agencies, including the World Health Organization, have recommended that we limit their consumption.
Following are the timelines for the determination:
If the schedule holds, food producers in both Canada and the US will have to reformulate their products to remove PHOs by June 2018.
For companies with a wide range of products, this could prove to be difficult. However, if you are already using Genesis R&D, things will be a little simpler.
If you have created your recipes in Genesis R&D, you can search those recipes for ingredients that need to be removed or replaced. If you don’t know what those ingredients are, you can use the Nutrient Search option to find ingredients containing trans fat.
At this point, you can determine which of your products contain these ingredients and which of your products, therefore, must be reformulated or removed.
Once you have identified the ingredients that you want to replace with new PHO-free ingredients, you may want to perform a find-and-replace. Here’s how: