TORONTO - The Heart and Stroke Foundation wants Ottawa to regulate the amount of trans fats that producers can include in foods, instead of relying on companies' voluntary compliance to meet low trans fat targets.
The call follows the release Thursday of what the foundation describes as "disappointing" results from Health Canada's Trans Fat Monitoring Program.
"Although some companies and sectors have stepped up to the plate and done well, overall the food industry is not sufficiently reducing trans fats voluntarily," says Sally Brown, CEO of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and co-chair of the Trans Fat Task Force.
"So our view is this data seems to be suggesting quite strongly that it's not going to happen without regulation," Brown said in an interview.
High consumption of trans fats can triple the risk of heart disease and is responsible for at least 3,000 cardiac deaths every year in Canada, the foundation says.
In June 2007, the federal government accepted the Trans Fat Task Force's recommendations that total trans fat content of cooking oils and soft margarines should not exceed two per cent of total fat content, while all other foods should be limited to five per cent.
Food producers were given two years to reach those targets, but were told that if significant progress were not made in that period, Health Canada would develop regulations to ensure lower trans fat levels are met.
Health Canada spokesman John Tessier said Thursday no decision has been made on whether legislation will be required to cut trans fat levels in food products. "A decision on this issue will be made once the department has completed the monitoring program," he said by email.
Thursday's report, the third of four on trans fat content, focused on bakery products from grocery stores, such as croissants, pies, tarts, cakes, brownies and doughnuts; foods from restaurants serving Chinese, East Indian and other international cuisines; baked goods from doughnut-coffee shops; and pre-packaged foods from grocery stores, including cookies, crackers and snacks.
The report found that many of the 517 products looked at - among them croissants, pies, cookies and microwave popcorn - still contain high percentages of trans fat.
For instance, 25 per cent of bakery croissants (four out of 16 products), 65 per cent of packaged, labelled cookies (44 out of 68 products) and a third of doughnuts (one of three products) are meeting the five per cent limit.
Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, medical director of the Bariatric Medical Institute in Ottawa, said he was not surprised by the report's findings.
"And so what we see from the most recent study is yes, indeed, lots of trans fats are still lurking in our food supply," said Freedhoff, who also wants the federal government to use its regulatory clout to force all producers to slash trans fat levels in Canadians' food.
"We knew even before the report came out, we knew in 2006 when the Trans Fat Task Force came out with their unanimous recommendations ... that we need to have regulations to make these changes, that it was going to be piecemeal at best on a voluntary effort."
Brown said it was particularly disheartening to find that many brands of cookies, processed popcorn and brownies - foods often consumed by children - are the worst offenders.
"What is disturbing is that while some producers of the products have long ago complied with the recommendations, others continue to ignore them entirely," she said.
"In short, we know that trans fats can be relatively easily removed from these products, but some companies it appears just can't be bothered, despite the known health risks to the consumers. And it seems, without regulation these companies will likely never bother."
Tessier said the report shows that progress is being made, with 80 per cent of pre-packaged foods tested and 90 per cent of foods analyzed from international cuisine restaurants meeting recommended targets.
"Today's results for baked goods show that some companies have made significant changes and are now producing baked goods that have acceptable levels of trans fats," he said. "For example, several producers of croissant are now producing croissants with very little trans fat. There is still work to be done, but these changes are important."
But the Heart and Stroke Foundation views bakery goods, much of them non-labelled, as still a huge problem.
"The bakery sector has always had serious concern about their ability to change," said Brown, adding that without regulation, there is little incentive for makers of baked goods to lower trans fat content or food-oil producers to invest in developing healthier alternatives to help them meet recommended targets.
