China News Service, Beijing, January 30th, Geneva News: According to the official website of the United Nations Office at Geneva on the 29th local time, the World Health Organization announced the five-year results of its "REPLACE" initiative to eliminate industrial trans fats and proposed a new goal: by 2025 , virtually eliminating industrially produced trans fats globally.
According to sources, when the WHO announced the five-year results of its "REPLACE" initiative to eliminate industrial trans fats, it pointed out that although it failed to achieve the goal set in 2018, that is, by the end of 2023, industrially produced trans fats should be completely eliminated from the global food supply. fat, but all regions of the world have made significant progress towards this goal.
The news also said that the WHO issued a certificate for the first time recognizing the progress made by Denmark, Lithuania, Poland, Saudi Arabia and Thailand in eliminating industrially produced trans fats. These countries have effectively implemented policies to eliminate industrially produced trans fats and established adequate monitoring and enforcement systems.
Trans fat, also known as trans fatty acid. According to the WHO, it is a semi-solid and solid fat that comes from two main sources: industrial production and naturally occurring fat. Consumption of trans fats increases the risk of heart attack and death from heart disease. Trans fats have no known health benefits, and industrially produced foods high in trans fats are often high in sugar, fat and salt, such as fried foods, cakes and ready meals.
According to WHO statistics, a total of 53 countries have implemented policies to eliminate industrial trans fats in food, which has greatly improved the food environment for 3.7 billion people, accounting for 46% of the global population. Five years ago, this proportion was only 6 %. WHO estimates that these policies will save approximately 183,000 lives each year.
"Trans fats have no known benefits and pose significant health risks. We are very pleased that many countries have introduced policies to ban or limit trans fats in food," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The five countries that issued the certificates expressed appreciation for their actions and urged other countries to follow their lead.
WHO states that the best practice for policies to eliminate industrially produced trans fats is to follow specific standards set by WHO and limit the use of industrial trans fats in all settings. The "best practice policies" it confirmed include, first, a mandatory limit of up to 2 grams of industrially produced trans fat per 100 grams of total fat in all foods; second, a mandatory ban on the production or use of partially hydrogenated oils in foods (Major source of trans fats). (over)