Everything in moderation, right? As long as you don’t overdo it, you will be fine. Eating a candy bar or a donut every now and then makes us feel guilty, but that is how we justify eating something that we know we probably shouldn’t eat. And it makes sense to satisfy a craving occasionally so you don’t binge on weekends. However, the FDA has declared Trans Fats to have absolutely no positive value on the physical body. With other substances, like sugar, the consumption is not as bad unless it is done in large amounts over a long period of time. With Trans fats, every gram is extremely harmful. No amount is a safe amount. After careful research, the FDA recently declared Trans fats as not “generally recognized as safe,” and for the FDA to declare a substance as not GRAS is rare. Though the ban is not official yet, but probably will be by March, it as already caused controversy.
Manufactures are claiming the ban of Trans fats could considerably increase food prices. Manufactures also claim that without Trans fats, the taste of a product will also be sacrificed. In order to prevent the depletion of taste, they will replace the fats with other sugar based substances. And sugar is already the leading cause of diabetes in the U.S. Some consumers argue that the ban will reduce conveniences as the shelf life of a product will decrease, causing foods to rot a lot quicker. Some people say that it’s the person that makes the choice of what they want to eat, and government agencies should not interfere.
In this conflict I believe the FDA is playing the part of collaborating. They have done their research and are making an attempt to improve general health in the U.S. The manufacturers are naturally competing because they have a product to sell, and if it stops tasting good, their paychecks get lighter. The consumers are compromising because they will have to