India’s food regulator Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) reduced the level of trans fats in food items to 3%. The current permissible limit is 5%. As per  gazette notification the level of trans fats in oils and fats will not be more than 3% from January 1, 2021 onwards. The level shall be further reduced to 2% by January 1, 2022 onwards.

Industrial trans fats are toxic compounds that can lead to several non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases. These are formed during the hydrogenation of vegetable oils (adding hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid) to increase the shelf life of foods, and other processes such as heating of oil at high temperature.

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Trans fats occur when vegetable oils are chemically altered to stay solid at room temperature, which gives them a much longer shelf life. Trans fat increases low density lipoproteins (LDL), triglycerides and insulin levels and reduces beneficial high density lipoproteins (HDL).

There are two broad types of trans fats found in foods: naturally occurring and artificial trans fats.

Naturally occurring trans fats are produced in the gut of some animals and foods made from these animals (e.g., milk and meat products) may contain small quantities of these fats.

Artificial trans fats (or trans fatty acids) are created in an industrial process that adds hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid.

Trans fats can be found in many foods – including fried foods like doughnuts, and baked goods including cakes, pie crusts, biscuits, frozen pizza, cookies, crackers, and stick margarines and other spreads.

Dietary fats are essential to give your body energy and to support cell growth. They also help protect your organs and help keep your body warm. Fats help your body absorb some nutrients and produce important hormones.

There are four major dietary fats in the foods we eat:

1. Saturated fats
2. Transfats
3. Monounsaturated fats
4. Polyunsaturated fats

The four types have different chemical structures and physical properties. The bad fats; saturated and trans fats, tend to be more solid at room temperature (like a stick of butter),

while good fats; monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats tend to be more liquid (like liquid vegetable oil). . Olive oil is an example of a type of oil that contains polyunsaturated fats; soybean oil  walnuts and sunflower seeds, tofu and soybeans; corn oil ;sunflower oil canola oil, peanut oil, safflower oil and sesame oil.