BD yet to be ready to cut TFA use in foods

Bangladesh is ill-prepared in minimising the use of Trans Fatty Acid (TFA) in various food items as well as meeting the World Health Organisation's (WHO) target of bringing it down below 2.0 per cent by 2023.
TFA is one of the major causes of cardiovascular diseases. Some 24 countries, including India and Thailand, have already initiated moves to control the use of TFA in foods.
Researchers and heath experts said the country is neither well-equipped with laboratories nor it has expertise to assess the level of TFA in food items.
In a sample survey on some 12 types of biscuits, collected from local markets in Dhaka, a group of researchers of the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) have found presence of TFA ranging from 5.0 per cent to 39 per cent.
Such high-level TFA is also present in other food items, including chips, chanachur, dalda and bonospoti ghee etc, experts said.
Those are unsaturated fat that is present in the form of Partially Hydrogenated Oils (PHOs) and contain trans-fat ranging from 25-45 per cent.
Every year some 277,000 people die in Bangladesh due to coronary heart diseases, according to the WHO.
National Heart Foundation (NHF), Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), nutrition department of Dhaka University, and Progga - a non-government organisation, have started awareness building programmes and research to identify the actual level of trans-fat in various foods.
Six samples of foods with TFA have been sent to India for testing its level due to lack of expertise in Bangladesh.
Dr Sohel Reza, head of the NHF trans-fat project, said the study on TFA level in foods has already been completed with the support of Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK), and it will be published soon.
In the test, the researchers have found TFA level of more than 10 per cent, he also said.
"We have collected some samples of samucha, singara and puri in scientific way from local market and sent those to India, as the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) has no expertise to test trans-fat level."
The government has already taken move to comply with the WHO target of bringing down the consumption of TFA, he added.
A B M Zubair, Executive Director of Progga, said their moves will make the government more conscious to make policies and build awareness on TFA consumption.
Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) of CTFK is supporting the move to reduce the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in Bangladesh as well as to meet the WHO target, he added.
Md Ruhul Quddus, Country Coordinator of GHAI, said the government is yet to set any standard on TFA level in foods.
"The standard level of TFA in our foods could be set by BSTI or National Food Safety Authority (NFSA)."
CTFK is currently working on it, he added.
Many of the food producing companies use hydrogenated oils to preserve their food items for a longer period and to keep their test and colour unchanged.
Some shops also use the same cooking oil several times at high heat for frying foods.
Foods having higher level of TFA increase level of Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) and reduce High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) in body, health experts said.
LDL creates blockage in blood vessels, thus increasing the risk of heart diseases.
According to the WHO, TFA should be below 1.0 per cent or less than 2.2 per cent in the daily 2,000 calorie food consumption.
In 2003, Denmark first framed a law, setting the maximum level of trans-fat at 2.0 per cent of the total fat in foods.
Thailand, Singapore, the US and Canada have restricted production and use of PHOs, main source of TFA.
In 2018, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India declared to reduce the maximum level of TFA to 2.0 per cent by 2022 as well as to reject the industry-produced TFA.
The WHO recommended following REPLACE (review, promote, legislate, assess, create and enforce) action package to reach the goal of reducing the prevalence of non-communicable diseases by one-third by 2030.

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