I’ve heard through the grapevine that a number of manufacturers are in a blind panic over the upcoming January 1, 2006 deadline for including trans fat (in the same way that saturated fats and cholesterol are required to be listed now) in the nutritional labeling. And with good reason. AC-Neilson, a New York based consumer research firm, reported that products labeled “Contains no trans fat” have risen by 12% over the past year, so consumers really do care. After next January 1 food manufacturers can no longer hide the trans fats in their products under the rubric of polyunsaturated fats as they do now.
Although this labeling requirement change will be welcomed by all and make it much easier to root trans fats from the diet, low-carbers shouldn’t be much affected. Here is a table from an article from the University of Maryland Medical Center showing the foods containing the most trans fat. These are all foods that any low-carbers worth their salt should be avoiding anyway.

1. Learn the categories of foods that are likely to have trans fats:
“� Fast foods – fried chicken, biscuits, fried fish sandwiches, French fries, fried apple or other pie desserts
“� Donuts, muffins
“� Crackers
“� Most cookies
“� Cake, cake icing, & pie
“� Pop tarts
“� Microwave popped corn
“� Canned biscuits
“� International and instant latte coffee beverages parents are more likely to use

One Comment

  1. What is the stand on products already on store shelves come January first? Do these products need to be pulled? Or is there a grace period for these and other products? Plus do restaurants need to put trans-fat on the menu?

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