Sans the trans: A new FDA rule requires that trans fats be identified on nutritional labels, prompting food companies to find alternatives

BY Cindy Green

Another culpable fat is being exposed.

On New Years Day, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule goes into effect requiring trans fat content be listed on all nutritional labels, along with total fat and saturated fat. Common in margarines and processed foods, trans fats have ill effects on blood cholesterol and are linked to coronary heart disease. They are in ingredients like “partially hydrogenated” vegetable oil.

With the new label requirements, AURI is stepping up services to affected small businesses. AURI’s oils lab in Marshall has installed gas-liquid chromatographic capability to test for trans-fats and Charan Wadhawan is designing new nutritional labels at AURI’s food lab in Crookston.

“It’s expensive for (small companies) to reformulate, to repackage, to do whole new labels — everything costs money,” Wadhawan says. When the FDA wrote the trans-fat-label rule three years ago, it predicted initial costs to the U.S. food industry would approach $140 to $150 million, according to the agency’s Web site.
 

But the FDA also estimated that, within three years, the labeling will prevent 600 to 1200 heart attacks, save 250 to 500 lives, and save up to $1.8 billion annually in medical and related costs.
 

Seeking alternatives
Shelf-stable cookies, cakes, biscuits, donuts and other baked goods have typically been heavy users of hydrogenated oils that can withstand high heats and don’t easily turn rancid.
Crackers “stay crispy forever because of the functionality of hydrogenated fats,” Wadhawan says.

Many of her clients target a health-conscious, natural-food market niche such as French Meadow Bakery of Minneapolis. She is helping the organic bakery design a nutritious transfat
free cookie. “When you use unsaturated oil instead of hydrogenated fat, the texture is compromised and the shelf life is reduced — it can become rancid and lose flavor.”

But with a little ingenuity, substitutions are available. “In some cases, you can blend liquid oils with emulsifiers to get the same texture as you would from hydrogenated fat — like lecithin or monodiglycerides that a lot of people think sounds bad but it’s an emulsifier so it’s not bad for you.”

“Tropical oils (such as palm oil and cocoa butter) can also be used. They don’t have trans fats, but they are saturated,” Wadhawan says. “I would recommend blending tropical oils with liquid oils to use in place of hydrogenated fats — that would bring down the saturated fat content.”
 

Competing oils
“Soybean oil is the most prominent oil in the U.S. today,” Norris says. “We have a lot of it and it’s cheap.” The problem is, “the linolenic acid in soybean oil is highly unstable to heat and prone to oxidation, so when we put it into a commercial product, we add hydrogen. Up to 70 percent of the soybean oil in prepared food is hydrogenated.”

However, Mike Youngerberg of the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association says that “to prepare for the trans fat issue, the soybean industry launched ‘The New Bean Initiative,’ which has resulted in soybean varieties that have less linolenic acid.”

Corn is lower than soy in linolenic acid but also more costly. Both have saturated fat — 14 to 15 percent for soybean oil and almost 13 percent for corn. Canola is only 7 percent saturated
fat but needs hydrogenation for most commercial uses.

The National Sunflower Association has been touting an alternative — the sunflower hybrid NuSun™, which produces shelf-stable, trans-fat-free oil that can withstand high heat and
is only 9 percent saturate fat. The oil “has less than 1 percent linolenic acid, so you don’t have to do much to it — to put it in prepared foods,” Norris says.

For the past three years, major national snack-food companies have been increasing NuSun use in chips, crackers and other snack foods. (see “Sunny Alternative”) AURI supported clinical trials that showed using NuSun in a typical American diet results in lower total and LDL cholesterol.

Cottonseed oil is another popular choice for snack foods as “it’s more stable than soybean oil,” Norris says, but it is about 26 percent saturated fat. Olive oil, by contrast, is about 17
percent saturated fat and 72.5 percent monounsaturated, but it smokes at a low temperature, which can impart an undesirable taste in fried or processed foods.

Wadawan says some companies are experimenting with “interesterified” oils. “They are not solid, but the structure is modified. It’s good fat … regular oils that go through a physical process that rearranges the fatty acids … resulting in customized melting characteristics.”

There are more designer fats entering the market, Norris says. Enova™, derived from soy and canola oil, was introduced about a year ago. “This high-diacylglycerols oil is metabolized
differently. It has calories like fat, but it is not deposited in the body.”

Also, several years ago, AURI helped Source Food Technology of Minneapolis do clinical tests on the designer oil-blend Appetize, now called Nextra™. The oil, made with a patented
purification process developed at General Mills, is trans fat free and can withstand high frying temperatures.

The evolving nutritional label
Implementing the trans fat rule was not a quick federal government decision; it’s the first significant nutritional label change since 1993. “Trans fat issues have been around since
the 70s; what is new is the evolution of information over the years,” Norris says. While early research was spotty and inconclusive, current “data does show it has difficulties with heart disease,” Norris says. (see “Fat Facts”)

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group, petitioned the FDA to label trans fat in 1994, and amended the petition in 1998. The FDA issued a proposed rule in 1999 and, over the next three years, received more than 2700 public comments, reviewed scientific studies and consulted experts. The final trans-fat labeling rule was defined in 2003 and food companies were given until January 2006 to comply.
 

Some companies quickly started adapting their recipes. Frito Lay, for example, has been using NuSun since 2003. Others have held out for the mandate’s effective date.

As of January 1, 2006, trans fat content must be listed on a separate line on nutritional labels under saturated fats. While total and saturated fat’s Daily Value (recommended limit) is also identified, the FDA hasn’t established a DV for trans fat.

One of AURI’s clients, Cedar Summit Dairy of New Prague, recently tested its organic yogurts, flavored milk, cheese and ice cream for trans fats at the Marshall lab, then Wadhawan designed a new nutritional label. “The company was able to list 0 trans fats” even though small amounts of trans fats naturally occur in dairy,” Wadhawan says. “If it’s less than a half gram per serving, then it’s labeled 0 grams.” That’s why partially-hydrogenated oils may show up on the ingredient list of a 0-trans-fat labeled product.

The new labeling requirements do not apply to cafeteria or restaurant food. Almost all fast-food chains deep-fry foods in hydrogenated oils. “Eating one doughnut at breakfast (3.2 grams trans fatty acids) and a large order of french fries at lunch (6.8 grams TFA) adds 10 grams of trans fatty acids to one’s diet,” claims the American Heart Association Web site.
 

Butter or margarine?
The trans fat revelation’s see-saw effect is that hard-stick margarine is no longer considered a healthy alternative to saturated-fat-laden butter. Hydrogenation is what gives vegetable oils the firm, butter-like quality.”

“There are a number of spreads that don’t use trans fats, but we don’t call them margarines,” Norris says. “Margarine standards require it to have so much fat (at least 80 percent). Spreads can have as much as 75 percent water.”

A variety of spreads are filling up dairy cases once dominated by butter and margarine. Most have high water content. For example, 30 percent of “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” spread is non-fat filler; as is 40 percent of Bertolli Light olive oil spread and 51 percent of Weight Watchers Canola Spread. All have 0 trans-fat grams.

Companies such as Land O’Lakes are also combining butter with canola and other unsaturated oils. The result is a spread that does not need hydrogenation because the butter gives it firmness, yet it is lower in saturated fats with the canola addition, and it still has a natural butter taste.
 

To be sure, the nutritional label of any new product to hit the grocer’s shelf this year is not likely to have any number but “0” on the trans fats line. ■