New Delhi, Mar 3 (KNN) The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has extended the timeline till June 30, 2017 to comply to its notification on declarations for class titles, trans fat content and saturated fats on food products.

On 25 May, 2016 the FSSAI had issued a notification which had stated that the compliance date for maximum limit of trans fatty acids as well as label declarations for class titles, trans fat content and saturated fats on food products would be 27 February 2017.

After receiving representations from various stakeholders over difficulties faced by the industry in this regard, FSSAI extended the compliance time.

The purpose of the regulation is to restrict the quantity of saturated fat and trans fat which should not exceed the maximum limit of 5% on food products.

Therefore, the FSSAI has advised enforcement officials not to take punitive action if the values of saturated fat and trans fat are found to be less than the value declared on the label.

This will be applicable for every package of edible vegetable oils like mustard, groundnut etc., interesterified vegetable fat, both hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, edible fats, margarine and fat spreads (mixed fat spread and vegetable fat spread) and package of food in which fats, oils and fat emulsions is used as an ingredient and where the quantity of trans fat content and saturated fat content needs to be declared on the label.

The FSSAI has set the maximum level of trans fatty acids to 5% in food products as fatty acids are known to increase LDC (bad) cholesterol in the blood. An increase in LDC cholesterol can lead to coronary heart disease. Consumers must have foods that have reduced levels of trans fatty acids and information for which they can get from the labels. The nutritional information will enable the consumer to make the right choice of foods especially if they are in the heart disease risk group.