FDA Commissioner launches ‘Trans Fat Free’ campaign

Dr Parvesh Kumar, Assistant Commissioner Food Safety, speaking during a seminar at Jammu.
Dr Parvesh Kumar, Assistant Commissioner Food Safety, speaking during a seminar at Jammu.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 15: Food Safety wing of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Jammu organized an awareness seminar on “Trans Fat Elimination” here today to create awareness among food handlers and bring consumption of Trans Fats to less than 2% in India by 2022.
FSSAI has in principle decided to bring down the consumption of trans-fatty acids (TFA) in foods being prepared in vanaspati/bakery shortenings/margarine to less than 2 per cent in a phased manner, that would effectively bring the level of trans fats to zero level in food in India and geared up to get freedom from trans fats with the motto “India@75; Freedom from Trans Fats”.
Launching “Trans Fat Free” awareness campaign, Commissioner Food Safety Vinod Sharma said, “A replacement is necessary to avoid generation of Trans Fat and his department will align all efforts to aware the people about the side effects of Trans Fat and eliminate its use to align with the FSSAI goal of 2022”.
The function was attended by students of Food Craft Institute, Jammu and BSc Nursing GMC Jammu, Chefs and food handlers from prominent hotels and restaurants from Jammu, food activists and people from all walks of life.
Food Science Expert Ashwani Khajuria, Associate Prof Government Women College, Gandhi Nagar Jammu and Satish Kumar, Business Consultant from Mavis Edutech, New Delhi delivered presentation of various aspects of Trans Fat and made the audience aware about ill effect of Trans Fat on health.
Dr Parvesh Kumar, Assistant Commissioner Food Safety said, “In line with WHO’s programme called Replace, the FSSAI has initiated several programmes which includes sensitizing the industry that uses these trans fats as emulsifier for various products and we hope that this initiative will drive the market for trans-fat free products”.
Food Safety officers Daleep Singh, Ajay Khajuria, Pervaiz Ahmad, Sabha Rasool sensitize the audience about the food safety measures to be adopted by Food Industry as a whole.
The seminar concluded with vote of thanks presented by Sanjeev Kumar, Deputy Commissioner Food Safety.