MARKET DEVELOPMENT
Dumping Trans Fat Could Do Harm
Dumping Trans Fat Could Do Harm
03/12/2013 (The Olympian) - U.S. regulators are moving to get rid of unhealthy trans fat from Americans’ diets, but critics are warning that a common replacement, palm oil, is not that much healthier and also is bad for the environment.
Palm oil is harvested from the fruit of palm oil trees growing in the rainforests of Malaysia and Indonesia. The destruction of the forests threatens endangered species including orangutans, Sumatran tigers and elephants, environmentalists say.
“The concern is that a lot of companies will switch to palm oil in order to reduce trans fats without thinking more broadly about the health and environmental implications of that,” said Bill Barclay, policy and research director for the Rainforest Action Network. “They’re losing critical habitat that threatens their survival, and that’s largely driven by palm oil expansion.”
Palm oil production has exploded over the past few decades to keep up with commercial demand. The drive to get Americans to eat less trans fat and the low price of palm oil have led to an expansion of the palm oil industry.
Trans fat was a common additive to snack foods, until it started coming under fire as an artery-clogger that increases risks of heart disease. Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration proposed eliminating trans fat altogether because it’s no longer considered a safe food additive. The FDA hasn’t yet said how long companies would have to make the change, but a timeline could be decided as early as January.
Though the ban could increase U.S. consumption of palm oil, the biggest increase may already have occurred because many companies have already made the switch.
“Since companies have been required to label trans fat, many of them have voluntarily moved away from it,” said Doug Boucher, director of climate research and analysis at the Union of Concerned Scientists, which produced a report last year criticizing the palm oil industry for destroying the rainforest.
Boucher said palm oil cultivation could be changed, so that it has less of an impact on the environment. “It has the potential to have some positive climate impacts if it’s grown on the right type of soils,” Boucher said.
Palm oil is harvested from the fruit of palm oil trees growing in the rainforests of Malaysia and Indonesia. The destruction of the forests threatens endangered species including orangutans, Sumatran tigers and elephants, environmentalists say.
“The concern is that a lot of companies will switch to palm oil in order to reduce trans fats without thinking more broadly about the health and environmental implications of that,” said Bill Barclay, policy and research director for the Rainforest Action Network. “They’re losing critical habitat that threatens their survival, and that’s largely driven by palm oil expansion.”
Palm oil production has exploded over the past few decades to keep up with commercial demand. The drive to get Americans to eat less trans fat and the low price of palm oil have led to an expansion of the palm oil industry.
Trans fat was a common additive to snack foods, until it started coming under fire as an artery-clogger that increases risks of heart disease. Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration proposed eliminating trans fat altogether because it’s no longer considered a safe food additive. The FDA hasn’t yet said how long companies would have to make the change, but a timeline could be decided as early as January.
Though the ban could increase U.S. consumption of palm oil, the biggest increase may already have occurred because many companies have already made the switch.
“Since companies have been required to label trans fat, many of them have voluntarily moved away from it,” said Doug Boucher, director of climate research and analysis at the Union of Concerned Scientists, which produced a report last year criticizing the palm oil industry for destroying the rainforest.
Boucher said palm oil cultivation could be changed, so that it has less of an impact on the environment. “It has the potential to have some positive climate impacts if it’s grown on the right type of soils,” Boucher said.