The meeting was said to be "preliminary", but from the outset the objectives of the meeting had been to build a common understanding of the issues and to begin to develop a decision-making framework.
Chaired jointly by Health Canada and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada with participants from the food industry, the task force plans primarily to assess the risks and benefits associated with alternatives to trans fats.
The creation of the task force was announced in November 2004 in an attempt to make recommendations for reducing processed trans fat in Canadian foods to the lowest level possible.
In the next few months the group will provide the Minister of Health with recommendations regarding public education, labelling and any possible immediate opportunities for the food industry to reduce trans fats. This announcement will be followed by the fall with recommendations for a regulatory framework and the introduction of healthy alternatives to limit trans fat content in processed foods sold in Canada to the lowest levels possible.
Trans fats are found naturally in some animal-based foods, but are also formed when liquid oils are made into semi-solid fats like shortening and hard margarine. Trans fat, like saturated fat, has been shown to raise serum LDL- cholesterol (also known as "bad" cholesterol) levels. In addition to raising 'bad' cholesterol, trans fat also reduces the levels of the so-called 'good' cholesterol (HDL-cholesterol) that protects against heart disease.
Health Canada reported last year that over 60 percent of the trans fatty acids consumed come from processed foods such as bakery products, fast and snack foods, which are made with partially hydrogenated fats. However, since then a number of food manufacturers have reformulated their recipes to make their products trans fat free. The challenge still remains though to make sure that in reducing the trans fatty acid content, the levels of other fat components that have health implications that are equal or worse than those of trans fatty acids are not increased.
Food manufacturers also have to consider the functionality of the fat source. Solid fat, for example, allows for easier handling of dough; it provides functional attributes to baked goods including tenderness, flakiness and enhanced aeration for leavening and structure; it has high oxidative stability thereby increasing the shelf life of the product; and it is often necessary for the processing application itself given its higher melting point and plasticity.
Traditional oilseeds which have been bred to have lower linoleic and linolenic acid levels to enhance oxidative stability (e.g. high oleic oil variants of soybean, canola and sunflower) can also be suitable alternatives to solid shortenings for frying and food processing, however there are still often issues of availability and generally the shelf life is too short for big companies.
Tropical oils including palm oil, palm oil fractions, palm kernel oil, and coconut oil may also be used as alternatives to partially hydrogenated vegetable oil in some food processing applications because of their high melting points, but there can again be issues with flavor and functionality.
In addition to workability and health issues there are the costs associated with reducing the amount of trans fatty acids in the food supply including the cost of the oil itself as well as costs related to product development, consumer testing, marketing, packaging, oil storage and handling, and retooling of the manufacturing process.
While there are differences in the cost of oils, the price of an oil is dictated by an individual supplier. However, ballpark figures indicate that the price of canola ($1.15/kg), soya ($1.22/kg), palm ($1.16/kg), palm olein ($1.18/kg), and palm stearin ($1.10/kg) are usually about the same and all are widely available in Canada.
While no figures were presented for cotton, corn, sunflower oil, or modified oils, these are more expensive oils. Other more expensive oils are coconut ($1.32/kg), palm kernel ($1.31), palm kernel olein ($1.24/kg), and palm kernel stearin ($1.94/kg), however, with the exception of coconut and palm kernel stearin, use of these is limited in Canada.
Although the impact will vary depending on the individual manufacturer, the price of the oil itself seems to be a relatively minor factor in the actual cost of the final packaged product.
The next task force meeting is scheduled for early June 2005.