WASHINGTON -- Artificial trans fat will be removed from the U.S. food supply over the next three years under a ruling by regulators that the products pose health risks that contribute to heart disease.
There's no longer a scientific consensus that partially hydrogenated oils, the main source of trans fat, are generally recognized as safe, according to a final decision released Tuesday by the Food and Drug Administration.
Scientists say trans fats can raise levels of "bad" cholesterol and lower "good" cholesterol, increasing the risk of heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States.
The fats are created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil to make it more solid, which is why they are often called partially hydrogenated oils. They are used for frying and in baked goods as well as in confections, usually to improve texture, shelf life or flavor.
The food industry has been using partially hydrogenated oils for decades, though many such as Kellogg Co., Kraft Foods Group Inc. and ConAgra Foods Inc. have been phasing them out.
Many baked goods such as pie crusts and biscuits as well as canned frosting still use partially hydrogenated oils because they help baked goods maintain their flakiness and frostings be spreadable. As for frying, palm oil is expected to be a go-to alternative, while modified soybean oil may catch on as well.
"I don't know how many lives will be saved, but probably in the thousands per year when all the companies are in compliance," said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
The FDA estimates that the ban will cost the food industry $6.2 billion over 20 years as it reformulates products and substitutes ingredients. The benefits will total $140 billion during the same time period, mostly from lower spending on health care.
Once a staple of the American diet -- think shortening and microwave popcorn -- most artificial trans fats are already gone. The FDA said that between 2003 and 2012, consumer trans fat consumption decreased an estimated 78 percent.
But some foods still have them, and the FDA said those trans fats remaining in the food supply are a threat to public health. Some of the foods that also commonly contain trans fats include coffee creamers, frozen pizza, refrigerated dough, vegetable shortenings and stick margarines.
ConAgra, which sells packaged foods such as Chef Boyardee pasta dishes, Swiss Miss hot chocolate and Orville Redenbacher's popcorn, has eliminated partially hydrogenated oils from 90 percent of its products, spokesman Teresa Paulsen said in an email. Products that haven't yet been reformulated include a couple of varieties of biscuits, Paulsen said.
General Mills Inc. has reduced trans fats in 350 products since 2008, and 95 percent of the company's U.S. retail products are labeled zero grams of trans fat, Kirstie Foster, a spokesman, said in an email. General Mills makes Betty Crocker and Pillsbury cake mixes and frosting that still contain partially hydrogenated oils.
To phase out the fats, the FDA made a preliminary determination in 2013 that trans fats no longer fall in the agency's "generally recognized as safe" category, which covers thousands of additives that manufacturers can add to foods without FDA review. The agency made that decision final Tuesday, giving food companies the three years to phase them out.
The move "demonstrates the agency's commitment to the heart health of all Americans," FDA acting Commissioner Stephen Ostroff said in a statement.
Now that trans fats will be off the list of safe additives, any company that wants to use them will have to petition the agency to allow it. That would phase them out almost completely, since not many uses are likely to be allowed.
Still, food companies are hoping for some exceptions. The Grocery Manufacturers Association, the main trade group for the food industry, is working with companies on a petition that would formally ask the FDA if it can say there is a "reasonable certainty of no harm" from some specific uses of the fats.
The group said in a statement after the announcement that it is pleased with the FDA's three-year compliance period, which "minimizes unnecessary disruptions to commerce." The group has not specified what the industry plans to ask for, but has said the FDA encouraged food companies to submit a petition.
Trans fats are widely considered the worst kind for the heart, even worse than saturated fats, which also can contribute to heart disease.
While Jacobson said palm oil as an alternative isn't ideal because it contains saturated fat, it's still better than trans fat. "Trans fat raises the bad cholesterol and lowers the good cholesterol a little bit," he said. "Saturated fat only raises the bad cholesterol."
The decision to ban trans fats "is probably the single most important thing the FDA has ever done for the healthfulness of the food supply," Jacobson said.
About 70 percent of palm oil is produced in Malaysia and some also comes from Indonesia and South America, Tiger Tangavelu, technical director at Global Agri-Trade Corp., said in an email. The U.S. market size for palm oil is 2.6 billion pounds annually, he said. He expects that to increase by half a billion pounds a year once trans fats are eliminated.
Modified soybean oil is also an option. Monsanto Co. is testing an oil called Vistive Gold made from soybeans that have been genetically modified to make it heart-healthier and good for frying without the need to hydrogenate it, said Sarah Vacek, soybean quality traits manager at Monsanto. Restaurants will be Vistive Gold's main target.
"It's been in the works for over a decade," Vacek said. "We are pre-commercial right now. We are anticipating a full commercial launch in 2016."
The industry's reduction in trans fats was helped along by the FDA's decision to force labeling of trans fats on food packages in 2006. But foods that list trans fat content as zero can still have very small amounts, since companies are allowed to round less than half of a gram of trans fat to zero on the package.
Information for this article was contributed by Mary Clare Jalonick of The Associated Press; and by Anna Edney and Craig Giammona of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 06/17/2015