Health Canada says it has agreed to adopt recent recommendations to limit trans fats in Canadian packaged and restaurant foods.
It is giving the food industry two years to meet the recommended limits. Should foods continue to exceed the targets in two years, Health Canada says it will bring in regulations to ensure that the limits are met.
The limits, proposed last year by the Trans Fat Task Force, require Canada's food industry to cut the total fat content of vegetable oils and soft, spreadable margarines to 2 per cent, and to limit the total fat content for all other foods to 5 per cent, including ingredients sold to restaurants.
"We are giving industry two years to reduce trans fats to the lowest levels possible as recommended by the Trans Fat Task Force. If significant progress has not been made over the next two years, we will regulate to ensure the levels are met," said Health Minister Tony Clement in a release.
Sally Brown, CEO of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada who co-chaired the Task Force, says the acceptance of their recommendations "moves us one big step closer to the elimination of processed trans fats from our food."
Countless food chains and manufacturers have announced in recent years that they were voluntarily reformulating their foods to virtually eliminate trans fats from their foods.
But the Heart and Stroke Foundation says it is still concerned about the high amounts of processed trans fats in some fast food, restaurant, and pastry products, noting that those sectors have been slower in changing recipes.
They note, for example, that a McDonald's Happy Baked Apple Pie contains five grams of trans fat -- 7.2 times the recommended limits, while Burger King Hash Browns contain 10 grams of trans fat -- 8.4 times the limit.
"Over the next two years the Heart and Stroke Foundation will work with Health Canada to monitor the situation and inform the public on where trans fats remain in our foods, and how to make healthier choices," says Brown.
"The Foundation's goal is to get rid of processed trans fats in Canadian foods, and today we've moved closer than ever to that objective," notes Brown. "We'll continue to work to achieve that goal and to keep the public informed of Canada's progress."
The Heart and Stroke Foundation says Canadians have one of the highest trans fat intakes worldwide, consuming 4.9 grams of trans fats a day.
Studies show that consuming just five grams of trans fats a day over many years boosts the risk of heart disease by 25 per cent.
