More trans fats awareness set for 2006, says lawyer
raising this year," according to the Californian attorney who
successfully sued both Kraft and McDonald's over their use of trans
fats, and who revealed his four next principle points of focus to
FoodNavigator-USA.com.
Founder of a small US activist group called Ban Trans Fats, Stephen Joseph has already played a key role in publicizing the negative health impacts of trans fatty acids (TFAs). But he is not stopping here.
In the next few months we are likely to see the onset of new awareness raising activities as he embarks on a campaign to clarify trans fat product labeling and further slash American consumption of TFAs.
But for the time being at least, food manufacturers are not his point of focus.
"The packaged food industry has already had to deal with the consequences of labeling, and this has been very effective in guiding consumer choice in supermarkets," he said.
But the trans fats avoided through packaged goods are being consumed at restaurants, where there is still no guidance, and through products such as baked goods, which are not labeled, he explained.
So a primary focus in Joseph's ongoing war is set to be the foodservice sector and the baked goods industry, where he aims to achieve "disclosure" of the presence of trans fats.
A second issue he plans to tackle is the "terrible 0.5g rule." This rule, which allows food products with anything up to half a gram of trans fats per serving to carry a '0g trans fat' claim, is "misleading" and "unlawful," he claims.
"It's just a trick as far as I'm concerned. This is the number one issue raised in the flood of e-mails I get every day and it needs to be addressed," he said, adding that the US should at least bring the level of 'undeclared' trans fats down to Canada's 0.2g level.
Another labeling issue on Joseph's agenda is what to do about the "big blank space" on product labels next to the indicated level of trans fats.
"On standard product labels there is no percentage for trans fat in the '% Daily Value' column. There is just a blank space. The FDA had previously proposed to put an asterisk in this column with a note that 'intake of trans fats should be as low as possible.' But the warning was dropped and nothing has yet been done," said Joseph, who believes the initially proposed asterisk should be introduced onto labels.
The final key issue on Stephen Joseph's agenda this year is to continue with public education about trans fats.
"A lot of people still don't understand fats, and certainly not the relationship between fat and cholesterol. Fats don't necessarily make you fat, they can make you dead. A certain elementary education is necessary for people to make the connections."
"There will be a lot more awareness raising this year," he added, but would not reveal specific details of his plans.
Whatever he has in store, there is good cause to believe his voice will be heard.
In May 2003, he filed a lawsuit against Kraft, targeting the trans-fat content of Oreo's. Although the suit was seen by many as ridiculous at the time, the issue became front-page news. Jay Leno, Rush Limbaugh and a host of other media personalities weighed in. Joseph was on Good Morning America when he heard that Kraft had agreed to remove trans fats from their cookies amid the sudden blaze of publicity.
And last year Joseph enjoyed another victory. A Marin County judge finalized an $8.5 million settlement of a suit he filed against McDonald's in 2003 for reneging on its promise to reduce the amount of trans fat oils a year previously.
Joseph's continuing effort to warn American consumers about artery-clogging trans fats has a personal reason at its roots. His stepfather, who died in 2001, was one of millions of consumers who watched what they ate, but did not know about trans fats.
"My stepfather used to make me feel guilty," said Joseph. "He was a slender man that would never order too much, but he ate margarine by the ton - partially hydrogenated soybean oil. He thought it was better than butter. But he developed Type II diabetes and died of a cardiac arrest.
"No one, myself included, thought there was any problem with margarine. He didn't know about trans fats. This was a guy who would have done something if he'd known."
