“The new labels will let consumers compare trans fat content from product to product, and that will be a great step forward,” said CSPI nutrition policy director Margo Wootan. “It will be hard, though, for people to tell if a given number of grams of trans fat is a lot or a little. Five grams may not seem like a lot, but it is.” 

While small amounts of trans fat occur naturally in meat and dairy foods, most comes from the partially hydrogenated oils used to make French fries, crackers, margarine, cookies, pastries, and other processed foods. Food manufacturers use hydrogen to turn liquid vegetable oil into semi-solid shortening. Last year, the National Academy of Sciences confirmed that trans fat is about as harmful as saturated fat. 

“I hope that food manufacturers begin reformulating their products to reduce levels of trans fat and saturated fat in foods,” said CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson. “And although this rule does not apply to restaurants, the frying oil used by many chains is a major source of trans fat. Restaurants should switch to healthier frying oils to help lower the nation’s rates of heart disease.” 

A few companies, like Frito Lay and Lipton, have already taken steps to eliminate trans fat in some products. But McDonald’s, which last September announced with great fanfare its proposal to reduce saturated and trans fat in its fried foods, quietly reneged on its pledge earlier this year.