Australian Heart Foundation asks for trans fat labeling

The Australian Heart Foundation is calling on the Ministerial Forum to reverse its recent decision to not make trans fat labeling mandatory.

The Government Ministers had accepted the advice of Food Standards Australian New Zealand that, given the low level of Trans Fatty Acids (TFA) in the foods sampled in Australia and New Zealand, mandatory labeling did not appear warranted.

Heart Foundation National CEO Mary Barry said the organization had consistently called, over many years, for mandatory labeling of trans fats on the nutrition information panel.

“Australians are entitled to know what is in their food,” Ms Barry said. “We have always supported the mandatory declaration of trans fatty acids from all sources on all foods,” she said, according to ausfoodnews.com.

Ms Barry said that while this figure may on face value sound like a “good achievement”, trans fats were “often found in cheap foods” and there was concern that particular groups of the population may be consuming more than this average, such as those from a low socioeconomic background.

Currently, in Australia there is no requirement for the label on a food product to list trans fat in the nutrition information panel. The exceptions to this are if a nutrition claim made on the product about other fats (such a omega-3 or cholesterol or monounsaturated fat).