WHO / TRANS FAT

STORY: WHO / TRANS FAT
TRT: 4:55
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 23 JANUARY 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE

SHOTLIST:

23 JANUARY 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1.Wide shot, Branca at the interview
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Francesco Branca, Director, WHO Department of Nutrition and Food Safety:
“Trans fat are a particular kind of fat that you find naturally in food coming from animals such as cows, ruminants, in dairy or in other products or in meat, or can be added by industrial manufacturing to food. This transfat are very bad for our health. They are responsible for a large amount of the heart disease and stroke we see.”

FILE – WHO – NOVEMBER 2013, BAHAMAS

3. Various shots, street food cooking and food prep

23 JANUARY 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

4, SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Francesco Branca, Director, WHO Department of Nutrition and Food Safety:
“WHO has been setting a goal to eliminate all industrial trans fat from the food supply by the year 2023 and has asked governments to put in place policies to ensure that no trans fats can be present in food. “

FILE – WHO – MARCH 2015, FUJI

5. Various shots, fast food cooking and food prep

23 JANUARY 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

6, SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Francesco Branca, Director, WHO Department of Nutrition and Food Safety:
“We now have 43 countries with good practice policies and increasingly countries from low and middle income countries. This year we had India, Bangladesh, who have passed such policies and there's discussion with other countries such as Nigeria, so that they also establish a good policies.”
7. Wide shot, Branca at the interview
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Francesco Branca, Director, WHO Department of Nutrition and Food Safety:
“WHO is working with Resolve to Save Life, which is an extremely active organization of civil society that is helping with advocacy at country level, is bringing together multiple advocates for this national effort. WHO is also working with, of course, government officials, with the academic groups that are able to help monitor the situation in countries and identify solutions. But WHO is also working with the food industry and oil manufacturers who have made a commitment to also implement the elimination of trans fat.”
9. Wide shot, Branca at the interview
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Francesco Branca, Director, WHO Department of Nutrition and Food Safety:
“This is already 2023. So we need to accelerate progress to achieve this important public health goal. It would be the first risk factor for non-communicable diseases such as heart disease to be eliminated. “
11. Wide shot, Branca at the interview
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Francesco Branca, Director, WHO Department of Nutrition and Food Safety:
“We need to cover an additional 5 billion people. There are mainly people living in low and middle income countries. There is a concern that some countries particularly have a high exposure to trans fat. We know of countries such as Egypt, Pakistan, so they are actively also considering the establishment of legislation.”
13. Wide shot, Branca at the interview
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Francesco Branca, Director, WHO Department of Nutrition and Food Safety:
“We have many small producers that use trans fat. Street food, often has trans fat. So actually implementing policies would require a collective effort to understand that the problem is there and to help identify the suitable solution. It is possible to replace trans fat, industrial trans fat with healthier oil sources without any impact on taste of food or without any impact on the cost of food. So this is something which can be done. “
15. Wide shot, Branca at the interview
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Francesco Branca, Director, WHO Department of Nutrition and Food Safety:
“By implementing a well-designed public strategy, you can actually make enormous progress. But scale is the solution. So even if we have done good progress, we want to cover the whole world. And, you know, to make those next steps requires really a collective effort. “
17. Wide shot, Branca at interview


STORYLINE:

Five billion people globally remain unprotected from harmful trans fat, a new status report from the World Health Organization (WHO) has found, increasing their risk of heart disease and death.

Since WHO first called for the in 2018 — with an elimination target set for 2023 — population coverage of best-practice policies has increased almost six-fold. Forty three countries have now implemented best-practice policies for tackling trans fat in food, with 2.8 billion people protected globally.

Despite substantial progress, however, this still leaves 5 billion worldwide at risk from trans fat’s devastating health impacts with the global goal for its total elimination in 2023 remaining unattainable at this time.

Industrially produced trans fat (also called industrially produced trans-fatty acids) is commonly found in packaged foods, baked goods, cooking oils and spreads. Trans fat intake is responsible for up to 500 000 premature deaths from coronary heart disease each year around the world.

“Trans fat has no known benefit, and huge health risks that incur huge costs for health systems,” said WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, “By contrast, eliminating trans fat is cost effective and has enormous benefits for health. Put simply, trans fat is a toxic chemical that kills, and should have no place in food. It’s time to get rid of it once and for all.”

Currently, 9 of the 16 countries with the highest estimated proportion of coronary heart disease deaths caused by trans fat intake do not have a best-practice policy. They are Australia, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Ecuador, Egypt, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and Republic of Korea.

Best-practices in trans fat elimination policies follow specific criteria established by WHO and limit industrially produced trans fat in all settings. There are two best-practice policy alternatives: 1) mandatory national limit of 2 grams of industrially produced trans fat per 100 grams of total fat in all foods; and 2) mandatory national ban on the production or use of partially hydrogenated oils (a major source of trans fat) as an ingredient in all foods.

“Progress in eliminating trans fat is at risk of stalling, and trans fat continues to kill people,” said Dr Tom Frieden, President and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives. “Every government can stop these preventable deaths by passing a best-practice policy now. The days of trans fat killing people are numbered — but governments must act to end this preventable tragedy."

While most trans fat elimination policies to date have been implemented in higher-income countries (largely in the Americas and in Europe), an increasing number of middle-income countries are implementing or adopting these policies, including Argentina, Bangladesh, India, Paraguay, the Philippines and Ukraine. Best-practice policies are also being considered in Mexico, Nigeria and Sri Lanka in 2023. If passed, Nigeria would be the second and most populous country in Africa to put a best-practicetrans fat elimination policy in place. No low-income countries have yet adopted a best-practice policy to eliminate trans fat.

In 2023, WHO recommends that countries focus on these four areas: adopting best-practice policy, monitoring and surveillance, healthy oil replacements and advocacy. WHO guidance has been developed to help countries make rapid advances in these areas.

WHO also encourages food manufacturers to eliminate industrially produced trans fat from their products, aligning to the commitment made by the International Food and Beverage Alliance (IFBA). Major suppliers of oils and fats are asked to remove industrially produced trans fat from the products sold to food manufacturers globally.

The report, called “Countdown to 2023 WHO Report on global trans fat elimination 2022,” is an annual status report published by WHO in collaboration with Resolve to Save Lives, to track progress towards the goal of trans fat elimination in 2023.