HSA must banish trans fats

HSA must banish trans fats
Thursday • October 5, 2006

Letter from Heng Cho Choon
Mr Richard Seah's article "We know fat lot about trans fats" (Oct 3) should sound alarm bells in the minds of readers who were blissfully ignorant about the dangers of trans fats in common items like margarine and pastries.
In 2003, BanTransFats.com Inc, a United States non-profit organisation, filed a lawsuit against food manufacturer Kraft Foods, in an attempt to force Kraft to remove trans fats from the Oreo cookie. The lawsuit was withdrawn when Kraft agreed to work on ways to find a substitute for the trans fat. This brought the trans fat issue to public attention.

Trans fat is an artery-clogging fat formed when vegetable oils harden into margarine. It is found in foods like fried chicken, doughnuts and cookies.
Food companies are not all required to list on nutrition labels so consumers have no way of knowing how much trans fat is in the food they are consuming. So far, Lipton and Nestle have taken steps to eliminate trans fat in their products.
Cadbury is also considering doing so in the near future.

The Health Sciences Authority's (HSA) vision is to be the leading innovative authority protecting and advancing national health and safety. I hope HSA will ensure our local food companies do away with trans fats in their products.T
he Health Promotion Board (HPB) in its section "Health at School" says that it is concerned with children who are exposed to smoking, obesity, sedentary behaviour, myopia, mental health and Aids. Nowhere is it stated on its website that the HPB is actively promoting the removal of trans fats from the food our kids are consuming in schools.