Is the labelling of trans fats mandatory?
No, for the moment but Codex has left this to the requirements of individual national food legislations. For consumer safety and information, however, there's a push worldwide for mandatory declaration of trans fats on food labels.
Nevertheless, both Codex and several countries in the world require that the amount of trans fatty acids (TFAs) be declared on the food label when a nutrition content claim is made on either one of the following 4 categories of fatty acids: saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and TFAs.
This means that when a nutrition content claim is made on any one of the 4 categories of fatty acids mentioned, the content of the other 3 categories must also be declared on the food label.
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) in United States recommended that trans fat intake to be as low as possible.
Canada has imposed mandatory labelling of TFA in pre-packaged foods since Jan 1, 2003. Denmark is the first country in Europe to limit the level of TFA in food to be not more than 2% since 2003. The United States will begin its mandatory labelling of TFA by Jan, 2006.
