EU Should Follow Denmark Trans Fat Ban

Denmark’s trans fat ban is a public health and food reformulation success, and should be rolled out across the EU, according to the Danish government.  Denmark restricted the content of industrially-produced trans fats to 2% of a product’s composition in 2003, and has seen rates of heart disease fall since.  

The Ministry of the Environment and Food tested 50 products - 19 Danish and 31 imported that typically would have been made with industrial trans fats prior to the ban, such as cookies, biscuits, pastries and microwave popcorn.  The results showed that no Danish product was over the trans fat limit while one imported product was.  

Meanwhile, the European Food Safety and Authority, acting on the request from the European Commission, recently published its technical report Scientific and technical assistance on trans fatty acids which provided “strong support” to the conclusion that trans fat intake has a dose-response linear effect that increase the risk of coronary heart disease compared to other fatty acids in the diet.