The food industry has made progress in reducing the trans fats, but consumers should still read labels to be certain that products are free of them.
A sample of products at Minneapolis-area supermarket found that most margarines and butters (21 of 29), cookies and snack cakes (34 of 44) and savory snacks (31 of 40) were labeled as containing zero grams of trans fat. However, some products still did contain significant amounts of trans fat.
The researchers concluded that, “Consumers need to read product labels because the trans fat content of individual products can vary significantly. Products that are lower in trans and saturated fat tend to cost more, which may be a barrier to their purchase for price-conscious consumers.”