CSO Advocates For A Trans Fat Free Nigeria

By Blessing Bature, Abuja

A Civil Society Organisation, Environmental Rights Action /Friends of the Earth Nigeria has yesterday advocated for a Trans fats free Nigeria that ought to clearly addressed the Regulation of sale unbranded cooking oils and to restrict the amount of trans fat in foods intended for human consumption or assumed to be intended for human consumption to not more than 2 grams per 100 grams of fat or oil to save lives.

The Deputy Executive Director, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria ( ERA/FoEN) Akinbode Oluwafemi said this yesterday in Abuja during a media workshop on effective reportage of trans fats issues in Nigeria.

Oluwafemi said that Trans fat is responsible for more than half a million deaths around the world every year from heart disease, and that the removal of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils containing industrially produced TFAs from the food supply is one of the most straightforward public health interventions for improving diet and reducing the risk of noncommunicable diseases.

He added that several countries have already taken action to curb trans fat intake, including South Africa, Brazil, India, the United Kingdom, the United State and Denmark and its becomes imperative that we support the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) as it finalize efforts to implement strong regulations that will eliminate toxic chemical trans fat from Nigeria's food supply.

Oluwafemi encouraged well meaning Nigerians to support the campaign for a trans fat free Nigeria by speaking about it everywhere and in all media platforms and support NAFDAC as they make conscious efforts to regulate and control the manufacture, importation, exportation, distribution, advertisement, sale and use of food, packaged water and other classes of products (known as Regulated Products).

Also speaking , the Deputy Director, Food Safety and Applied Directorate Division, NAFDAC, Dr. Eva Edwards said TransFat content shall not exceed 2 grams per 100 grams of oil or fat, a regulatory measure to deal with the reduction of fatty acids industrially. For claims of “transproduced trans fats. fat free” labels/advertisement on product regulatory limit of not more than 1 gram per 100 grams of oil or fat.

Adding, the critical role of the success of setting, monitoring and enforcement TFA limits for for the reduction of TFAs in Nigeria’s food supply can not be overemphasized and hinged on laboratory analysis for detection of TFAs using Gas Chromatography with Flame Ionization Detector (GC FID) and Reference Standards to enable the quantification of the levels of TFAs in food samples.

While lamenting on the provision of adequate resources for monitoring compliance and enforcement of the TFA reduction/elimination policy (laboratory capacity, personnel…), he called on every Nigerians to join Public sensitization and awareness campaigns on the dangers of TFAs, Launch a “Read the Label” campaign, Effective and advocacy sustained media coverage will go a long way to help, he added.