de Barros Beatriz Vasconcellos, Proença Rossana Pacheco da Costa, Kliemann Nathalie, Hilleshein Daniele, de Souza Amanda Alves, Cembranel Francieli, Bernardo Greyce Luci, Uggioni Paula Lazzarin, Fernandes Ana Carolina
Department of Nutrition, Health Sciences Center, Postgraduate Program in Nutrition, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil.
Nutrition in Foodservice Research Center, Health Sciences Center, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil.
Front Nutr. 2022 May 18;9:868341. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.868341. eCollection 2022.
Consumption of industrially produced trans-fat acids (TFA) is a public health concern. Therefore, it is important that information on TFA in packaged foods be clearly informed to consumers. This study aimed to assess the evolution of TFA information presented in packaged foods sold in Brazil in 2010 and 2013, before and after the introduction of stricter regulatory requirements for TFA-free claims on food labels. A repeated cross-sectional study was performed through food label censuses of all packaged foods available for sale in two stores from the same supermarket chain, totaling 2,327 foods products in 2010 and 3,176 in 2013. TFA-free claims and information indicating TFA in the ingredients list and nutrition facts label were analyzed by descriptive statistics and Pearson's chi-square test. There was a 14% decrease in the use of ingredients containing or potentially containing industrially produced TFA (i-TFA), according to analysis of the ingredients list. However, when analyzing foods by groups, it was found that this decrease was significant only for group A (bakery goods, bread, cereals, and related products; from 59 to 35%, < 0.001). By contrast, food group F (gravies, sauces, ready-made seasonings, broths, soups, and ready-to-eat dishes) showed a 5% increase in i-TFA. The use of specific terms for i-TFA decreased between 2010 and 2013, but there was an increase in the use of alternative terms, such as vegetable fat and margarine, which do not allow consumers to reliably identify whether a food product is a possible source of i-TFA. There was an 18% decrease in the use of TFA-free claims in products containing or potentially containing i-TFA. However, almost one-third of foods sold in 2013 were false negatives, that is, foods reported to contain 0 g of TFA in the nutrition facts label or with TFA-free claims but displaying specific or alternative terms for i-TFA in the ingredients list. The results indicate that adoption of stricter requirements for TFA-free claims on food labels in Brazil helped reduce the prevalence of such claims but was not sufficient to decrease i-TFA in industrialized foods sold in supermarkets.
食用工业生产的反式脂肪酸（TFA）是一个公共卫生问题。因此，将包装食品中TFA的信息清楚地告知消费者很重要。本研究旨在评估2010年和2013年巴西销售的包装食品中TFA信息的演变情况，这两个时间分别在食品标签上对无TFA声明引入更严格监管要求之前和之后。通过对同一连锁超市两家门店中所有可供销售的包装食品进行食品标签普查开展了一项重复横断面研究，2010年共有2327种食品，2013年有3176种。通过描述性统计和Pearson卡方检验分析了无TFA声明以及在配料表和营养成分标签中表明TFA的信息。根据配料表分析，含有或可能含有工业生产的TFA（i-TFA）的配料使用量下降了14%。然而，按食品类别进行分析时发现，这种下降仅在A组（烘焙食品、面包、谷物及相关产品）中显著（从59%降至35%，<0.001）。相比之下，F组食品（肉汁、酱汁、现成调味料、肉汤、汤和即食菜肴）的i-TFA使用量增加了5%。2010年至2013年期间，i-TFA特定术语的使用减少，但替代术语（如植物脂肪和人造黄油）的使用增加，这使得消费者无法可靠地识别一种食品是否可能是i-TFA的来源。在含有或可能含有i-TFA的产品中，无TFA声明的使用减少了18%。然而，2013年销售的食品中近三分之一为假阴性，即营养成分标签上报称含有0克TFA或有无TFA声明，但在配料表中显示有i-TFA的特定或替代术语的食品。结果表明，巴西对食品标签上无TFA声明采用更严格的要求有助于降低此类声明的流行率，但不足以降低超市销售的工业化食品中的i-TFA。
