WASHINGTON — In comments submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last Friday, the trade industry representing U.S. manufacturers of margarine products urged the FDA to stop inaccurately classifying margarine products as a category high in trans fat. Responding to FDA's tentative determination to remove Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status from partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), the National Association of Margarine Manufacturers advised the FDA that the great majority of margarine products no longer contain partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), the source of trans fat, and that margarine is not a significant contributor of trans fats to the American diet. NAMM provided FDA with more than 60 margarine product labels as evidence that manufacturers have removed PHO from their products.
According to NAMM president, Richard Cristol, margarine manufacturers have led the food industry in the reduction and elimination of trans fats from their products. "We support FDA's efforts to encourage more healthful eating, but for FDA to continue to categorize margarine as a major contributor of trans fat is not only factually inaccurate, it creates unintended, unhealthful consequences for consumers," said Cristol. "Soft spread margarine is the healthiest buttery spread option, yet consumption of butter, which is high in unhealthy saturated fat, is rising dramatically. In fact, the increase in consumption of butter over the past decade has added an annual average of another half-pound of saturated fat to Americans' diets."
NAMM once again pointed out to FDA that a serving of a typical soft spread margarine has 2/3 less saturated fat than butter, 25% fewer calories than butter, no cholesterol compared to 30 milligrams in butter and no trans fat.
The complete National Association of Margarine Manufacturers comments are available to news media by request.
CONTACT:
Stephanie Meyering
Kellen Communications
(212) 297-2162
smeyering@kellencompany.com
Source: National Association of Margarine Manufacturers
