FEDIOL welcomes EU legislation on trans fatty acids (TFA)
Date
24 Apr 2019
Sections
Health & Consumers
Brussels, 24 April 2019 – Supported by FEDIOL since 2014, the EU legislation setting EU maximum levels on trans fatty acids has been approved by EU Parliament and Council and is adopted by the Commission today.
The legislation is in line with the WHO REPLACE initiative1 on TFA and will enter into force as from 2 April 2021. It will apply to food intended for the final consumer and food intended for supply to retail.
The legislation consolidates reformulation work made by the sector over the past years to improve health and nutrition profiles of products containing oils and fats and addresses remaining hotspots across the EU.
“Companies in our sector are engaged with their customers to support the implementation of technical solutions and to ensure compliance with the new legislation” explained John Grossmann, FEDIOL president and he added, “With this EU legislation soon in place, we should seriously reassess the usefulness of the existing labelling requirements of fully and partially hydrogenated oils which becomes not only redundant, but also rather confusing”. FEDIOL stands ready to further engage in next steps.
Note to editors:
FEDIOL, the EU vegetable oil and proteinmeal industry association, represents the interests of the European oilseed crushers, vegetable oil refiners and bottlers. FEDIOL members are 12 national associations and associated company members in 5 other EU countries. With about 180 facilities in Europe, the sector provides 20,000 direct employments. Its members process approximately 55 million tonnes of basic products a year, both of EU origin and imported from third country markets. The sector processes notably rapeseed, sunflower seed, soybeans and linseed into oils and meals for food, feed, technical and energy uses essentially on the European market.