…and say elsewhere on the label it has 0g trans fat? I have come accross a few food items like this lately and was just wondering. Is there a partially hydrogenated oil that doesnt add trans fat, or is it in such small amounts that they can claim it has 0g?
Food label laws are so twisted around that companies can basically say whatever they want and get away with it. That’s how.
When “lite” foods became all the rage, legislation was passed about what qualifies as “lite” or “reduced-calorie” and other similar terms. Long story short, you can have a product that contains 99% of what the original product had in it, and call it “lite”. Even though eating this new product instead of the old one will have absolutely no effect on one’s physique, health or anything else, since it’s basically the same thing as before.
The whole situation makes me sick.
Trans fatty acids are produced mainly from partial hyrogenation of vegetable and/or marine oils. If any item you see has hydrogenated in front of the oil weither partial or not, it will convert to a trans fatty acid. The new labeling laws that mandate that a product must list on the label that it contains a tfa don’t go into effect until 2006. So as chardawg put it these companies can put whatever the hell they want to on the labels. Just FYI, common sources from commercial foods are: margarine, mayonnaise, salad dressings, bread, pretzels, cookies, bagels, buns, rolls,and even some protein bars I’ve seen. Here’s an interesting one to note. Magnesium Stearate which you find on just about any encapsulated product(including unfortunately our beloved BIOTEST products). Magnesium stearate is a hydrogenated oil that is used in the encapsulation process as an excipient to “clump” powders so they’ll stay in the capsules.