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On Oct. 1, 2024, the FDA began implementing a reorganization impacting many parts of the agency. We are in the process of updating FDA.gov content to reflect these changes.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration
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  5. Trans Fat
  1. Food Additives & Petitions

Trans Fat

The FDA has taken major steps to reduce artificial trans fat in the food supply.  In the past, most of the trans fat in foods came from partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), formed through a manufacturing process that converts vegetable oil into a solid fat at room temperature. Trans fat also occurs naturally in food products from ruminant animals (e.g., milk, butter, cheese, meat products). The FDA’s actions have not affected these natural sources of trans fat.

Eating trans fat raises the level of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol in the blood. An elevated LDL cholesterol level in the blood increases the risk of developing heart disease, the leading cause of death in men and women in the U.S. Removing PHOs from processed foods is estimated to be preventing thousands of heart attacks and deaths each year. Because trans fat increases LDL-cholesterol, the FDA requires trans fats to be declared on the Nutrition Facts label.

In 2015, the FDA took the significant step of determining that PHOs, then the major source of artificial trans fat in the food supply, are no longer “Generally Recognized as Safe,” or GRAS. For the majority of uses of PHOs, June 18, 2018, was the date after which manufacturers could not add PHOs to foods. However, to allow for an orderly transition in the marketplace, FDA allowed more time for products to work their way through distribution by extending the final compliance date to January 1, 2021.

In 2023, the FDA issued a direct final rule to remove outdated references to PHOs in various regulations.

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