IFBA to Phase Out Industrial Trans Fats by 2023

The International Food & Beverage Alliance (IFBA), which includes in its membership food powerhouses such as Nestle and Unilever as well as fast-food giant McDonald’s, have set a goal of phasing out industrially produced trans fats (iTFAs) from the global food supply by 2023, a FoodNavigator report said last week.  This followed after discussions hosted by World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus earlier this month.

At the end of 2018, IFBA members met the target of their 2016 commitment to reduce iTFAs in their products to “nutritionally insignificant levels” of less than 1 gram of fat per 100 grams of finished product across 98.5% of their products worldwide.  Now, an “enhanced worldwide commitment” will allign their global standard with WHO’s recommendation for a maximum iTFA threshold in food products not exceeding 2 grams of iTFA per 100 grams of fat or oil by 2023.   

The pledge comes a year after the WHO launched an initiative to provide guidance for all countries on how to remove artificial trans fats from their foods, with a view to eradicating the ingredient worldwide by 2023.  According to the organisation, industrially-produced trans fats are associated with over 500,000 deaths from coronary heart disease globally each year. European regulators have also taken action on trans fats and the goal is in-line with limits on trans fats set by the EU and due to come into effect in 2021.