FDA Eliminating Trans-Fat: What Will Change?

As of November 7, 2013, the United States Food and Drug Administration has announced a new law that will require companies to phase out trans-fat from all foods. This means that a variety of popular food items will have to reformulate their products to eliminate trans-fat in order to be compliant with the law.

In 2006, the FDA required that all foods be marked with the level of trans-fat that they contain. This influenced many food manufacturers to drop the levels of trans-fat in their food. However, companies were listing the fat as "partially hydrogenated oil" in order to make it less obvious on the nutrition label.

Here are some of the foods that will be required to change under the new legislation.

1. Microwave popcorn
2. Cookies and crackers
3. Refrigerated dough and pie crust
4. Margarines
5. Coffee creamers

These are products that are consumed by Americans almost every day. People who drink coffee with creamer, have crackers as a snack for lunch, and have a ready-made pie for dessert could often consume more trans-fat in a day than they realize. Thanks to this new legislation by the FDA, we can expect to see a drop in diabetes and other weight- and health-related issues due to diet.