Beware of the trans fats in your doughnut, wife cake and creamwafer - CHOICE # 379

A doughnut sample was found to contain as much as 2.2 grams trans fats, according to the latest test on 85 food products.

So, consuming just one piece of the doughnut in question will boost your trans fats intake to its very daily limit - the WHO/FAO's recommended daily intake of trans fats is less than 2.2g (for an individual with a daily energy intake of 2,000 kilocalories).

Consuming one more of that tasty doughnut will rapidly double the daily intake of trans fats which, sadly, are present in many other food products, too.

This was revealed in a joint test of the Consumer Council and the Centre for Food Safety - the second test in 7 months to monitor trans fats levels in food.

There is growing evidence indicating that trans fats intake is linked to an increased risk of coronary heart disease. Trans fats are now considered to be more harmful to health than saturated fats.

The latest finding was less than encouraging compared with the previous test in October, when a cream-filled bread with shredded coconut（椰絲奶油飽）was found to contain the highest level of trans fats, with 1.8g per 100g.

The doughnut sample concerned was found to contain the highest trans fats level (4.7g per100g). The 2 other doughnut samples in the test fared considerably less in trans fats level with only 0.25g and 0.46g per 100g respectively.

Also relatively high in trans fats level was a traditional wife cake（老婆餅）ith 1.7g per 100g or 1.3g per piece, which is about 60%of the recommended daily intake. Again, the other sample of the same pastry had considerably less trans fats of only 0.025g per 100g.

Following closely was a cream wafer sample with 1.3g per 100g trans fats. Though the trans fats content in a piece of wafer is not high (only 0.11g per piece), consuming in large amount or for a long period of time may result in excessive intake of trans fats.

Notwithstanding the common presence of trans fats in food products, no trans fats were found in 4 of the samples, namely, a rice cracker, 2 prepackaged soups, and a non-dairy creamer.

The concern over trans fats will be addressed in the proposed mandatory nutrition labelling scheme. Under the proposed regulation, prepackaged foods are required to be labelled with energy value and the content of 7 nutrients including trans fats.

A food product could only label its trans fats content as "0g" if it contains not more than 0.3g per 100g trans fats.

However, if the food product makes a claim of "trans fats free" or the like such as "zero or no trans fats" on the label or in any advertisements, it should also satisfy the following requirements:

• contains not more than 1.5g of saturated fats and trans fats combined per 100g of food; or not more than 0.75g of these fats combined per 100ml of food; and
• the sum of saturated fats and trans fats contributes to not more than 10% energy.

But as the test clearly shows, the levels of trans fats varied quite considerably in samples within the same food category, hence it is practically possible to avoid or reduce trans fats in the production of food.

Food manufacturers are therefore urged to avoid using hydrogenated vegetable oils to produce their products; develop methods to reduce their trans fats content; and label ingredients properly on prepackaged food.

Consumers are advised to refer to the test results in this (May) issue of CHOICE on the content of trans fats in 85 food samples (and 5 individually packed instant noodle seasonings) including bakery products, ready-to-eat savouries, instant noodles, soups, milk products, mayonnaises, chocolate spreads, peanut butters and chocolate.

Choose food with less trans fats as well as less saturated fats and cholesterol; maintain a balanced diet (of low salt, low sugar, low fats, and high fibre); use less hydrogenated vegetable oil or animal fat (butter or lard) in cooking and use steaming and boiling instead of frying.

In the test, the saturated fats and cholesterol contents of the samples also came under evaluation. Results showed that creamer and instant noodle were relatively high in saturated fats, while French toast（西多士）relatively high in cholesterol.