Better Chemicals: What are the hydrogenated oils banned from use in food in Canada?

September 17, 2018 On July 1, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) issued a revised notice banning the use of partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) in food.

On September 15, 2017, Health Canada issued a revised notice prohibiting the use of partially hydrogenated oils in food. PHOs are now added to Part 1 of Canada’s List of Contaminants and Other Adulterants in Food, effective from the date of publication.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) enforcement of the new requirements includes a two-year phase-in period, during which food containing PHOs produced before September 17, 2018 can continue to be sold.

This is done to deplete existing stocks and avoid unnecessary food waste. However, manufacturers will not be allowed to add PHOs to foods produced on or after September 17, 2018.

The following will give you a brief understanding of what hydrogenated oil is:

Hydrogenated oil is also called ” Vegetable cream”, “vegetable butter” and “non-dairy creamer”. Currently, it is widely used in food baking fields such as bread, cheese, margarine, cakes and biscuits. Hydrogenated oil produces a large amount of trans fatty acids, which increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc. Countries around the world have restricted it, but China uses it on a large scale and without restrictions.

Physical and chemical properties: Milky white plastic solid. Uniform texture and no odor.

Production method: When heating vegetable oil containing a lot of unsaturated fatty acids, add a metal catalyst (nickel series, copper-chromium series, etc.), and pass in hydrogen to make the double bonds in the unsaturated fatty acid molecules react with hydrogen. The atoms combine to form less unsaturated fatty acids, which results in an increase in the melting point of the oil (increased hardness).

Usage: Mainly used in soap, stearic acid, stearates, fatty amines, monoglycerides and other products. Many packaged fast food products use hydrogenated oil. Hydrogenated oil is modified from vegetable fat. The liquid unsaturated fat in vegetable oil is hydrogenated and hardened into solid or semi-solid oil. The purpose is to prevent the oil from deteriorating. , enhance the taste