Is the new FDA ban on Trans Fat in processed foods a long-overdue step or another example of government overreach?

It’s a good first step. Next should be bans on high fructose corn syrup and aspartame.

Over reach. It’s about freedom of choice and if someone wants to eat Twinkies all day that is their choice as long as they don’t attempt to use their over consumption of crap as a criminal defense ploy. As long as things are labelled and people are aware the government should butt out. Why no bans on tobacco and alcohol both of which are far bigger health problems than a little trans fat or a diet soda.

I think I can safely monitor my own food intake. You got it on the label, that should suffice. Now it is my choice.

It’s long overdue. Trans fats are undeniably dangerous, and the general public doesn’t know that – and perhaps even thinks of them as healthy to eat because of their long association with margarine.

Maybe a bit much. A compromise would be requiring a large warning on the package like they do for cigarettes. Similar warnings could be required for other chemicals. This would help to educate people so they could make informed choices.

It’s a matter of perspective. You can bet that those whose living depends on the manufacturing, use or sale of the stuff will be at odds with your doctor over the issue.

A quick look at Wikipedia shows that other countries are banning it – largely motivated to save thousands on health care. I don’t have time to look at the data, but from that perspective it makes sense.

In theory I would prefer required labeling and product naming to bans:

Kellogg’s Genetically Modified Corn Flakes

Coke with Genetically Modified High Fructose Corn Syrup

Tom’s GMO Bugles Ranch With Synthetic Food Dyes & Non-Specific “Flavor” Ingredients

Hormel Highly Fat-Saturated Hormone-Pumped Pepperoni Stix With Carcinogenic Sodium Nitrite & Butylated Hydroxyanisole & Hydroxytoluene

However, I don’t think they’d go for that, AND the food industry has shown themselves too scummy to be trusted.

Why not a warning in hospital nurseries. “Warning: Life causes death.”

I think the ban on transfat is warranted.

@Coloma That’s really not a good analogy. Trans fats are something that we have deliberately produced in order to solve a specific food problem: keeping fats liquid at room temperature. When we did this, we didn’t realize that trans fats would so significantly affect rates of heart disease and other health problems. Now we know. It is irresponsible (and unnecessary) for us to keep producing them.

A better analogy would be putting lead in paint or gasoline. We have laws against those things now, for good reason. We still have paint and gasoline, they’re just not as dangerous without those specific ingredients.

Likewise, we will still have food and still have fat in food, after the trans fat ban – but we will not have injected that food with something that we have acknowledged is poisoning us.

The FDA is a part of the executive branch of government. Thus, they have no more power to do anything that the president alone could do. Last time I looked, the president can’t (legally anyway) ban a product.
Congress can, anytime they want to.

@dappled_leaves I was being humorous. Life does, indeed, cause death regardless of what we eat.
Warnings are good enough IMO. We are becoming a nanny state.

Let people decide for themselves. Trans Fat and Aspartame and other ingredients in our foods are not any better or worse than a thousand other things including alcohol & tobacco, that are still heavily consumed inspite of the warnings. New research is pointing to DDT exposure from the 60’s and early 70’s as increasing breast cancer risks in middle aged women now. I am much more concerned with pesticides and herbicides in our food supply than I am drinking the occasional diet soda or eating a cookie with trans fat.

It is pure overreach fueled by Big Food’s profit maximization & tax avoidance needs. Let’s face it, like any regulatory agency, the FDA does not issue an order like this unless some corporation somewhere stands to make a lot of money from the order’s implementation.

For an eye-opening look at processed food in general (and the extent to which the food industry deceives consumers) I definitely recommend the book Pandora’s Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal.

I have been wondering about this new law. So, packaged foods can longer have trans fats, but you can still buy vegetable shortening and margarine, is that right?

I think it’s over-reaching to ban it altogether in foods.

@JLeslie
Crisco. With 50% less saturated fat than butter and 0g of trans fats per serving.
I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Not Butter and Promise margarine sticks (among others) are already Trans free.
I just use butter.

@ibstubro Where does it say Crisco doesn’t have trans fats? I don’t understand how it can be fully hydrogenated and not have transfats?

Also, this move by the government is antisemitic. ~ LOL. Seriously though, it will put a crimp in observant Jews dessert choices immediately after a meat meal. I wonder why no one is pointing that out in the media. Maybe they have.

Where doesn’t it say Crisco has 0g trans fat per serving? @JLeslie?
As I pointed out, there are already plenty of trans fat free butter alternatives.

I was neutral when I asked this question – it was sincere.
@dappled_leaves made the compelling argument for me with the leaded paint analogy. Trans fats were created as a convenience, and their use is ingrained in generations of users. As I pointed out, we can still have Crisco and margarine without having trans fats.

And @josie is in error. The FDA can ban trans fats.
Failure to qualify
When a use of a substance does not qualify for the GRAS exemption, that use of the substance is subject to the premarket approval mandated by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. In such circumstances, the FDA can take enforcement action to stop distribution of the food substance and foods containing it on the grounds that such foods are or contain an unlawful food additive.

@JLeslie That is a specious argument. There are plenty of Kosher desserts available without dairy and without trans-fats.

I should point out that I described trans fat above as “keeping fats liquid at room temperature” – but I meant to say “keep oils solid at room temperature”.

@ibstubro I just noticed the tab for the nutritional info. I don’t know the chemistry well, but the ingredients show partially hydrogenated fats. I thought that is trans fat?? I have to say I question the science on the trans fat thing. I don’t think they are good for you, but I think the obsession with them will pass.

@zenvelo I think I put a tilde, an LOL, and even said that cuts out some desserts. How serious do you think I really was?

I have avoided trans fats for well over a decade. It’s still in anything that has “partially hydrogenated oil” in the ingredients the FDA required it to be in the nutrition info at some point but only after ½ a gram which is a lot. They can say 0 grams of trans fat “per serving” in something like a cookie with a serving size of say four. That’ll give you two grams and you may not even realize it’s there. If it has hydrogenated oil simply do not eat it.

Good point, @ARE_you_kidding_me. Crisco appears to have .5g tans fat per tablespoon, per the label.