ASA urges Congress to support the differentiation by FDA and USDA of soybean oil and other vegetable oils that are high in unsaturated fats as healthy oils, compared to oils high in saturated fats, as they prepare to revise the Nutrition Facts panel and Food Guide Pyramid.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will require that food labels list trans fat content on nutrition labels beginning January 1, 2006. The rule is the first significant change on the Nutrition Facts panel since it was established in 1993.

Soy oil and soy foods, in and of themselves, contain no trans fats. Trans fats are created when vegetable oils are hydrogenated in order to make them more solid and useful for certain food industry applications such as frying and baking. Trans fats also occur naturally in meat and dairy products. About half of U.S. soybean oil – about 8 billion pounds – is partially hydrogenated. Loss of even part of this key market would create a soyoil surplus that would have a significant negative impact on soybean prices.

While the new regulations do not take effect until 2006, increasing numbers of food companies are already labeling for trans fat. Frito-Lay began listing trans fats on its products in 2004. McDonald’s has announced plans to stop using trans fats in frying french fries. Kraft Foods is reformulating many of its products to reduce levels of trans fats.

ASA is working closely with soybean processors and seed companies to promote new soy-based products to replace partially hydrogenated soybean oil. The threat to soybean producers is immediate as food manufacturers are aggressively reformulating their products to remove trans fats.

Short-term solutions include new processing techniques such as interesterification and blended oils. New varieties of soybeans that do not require hydrogenation to maintain stability will be grown in some areas this growing season.

Within a few years, these new varieties of low linolenic/higher-stability soybeans will be able to account for a significant amount of the 8 billion pounds of soybean oil that is now partially hydrogenated. Alternative processing methods will continue to reduce in price.

Longer-term, ASA supports helping re-position soybean oil as a healthy oil by pointing to its nutritional attributes, including stearic acid content. Stearic acid is a component of saturated fat that may be neutral or even help lower LDL cholesterol levels. ASA is working closely with industry stakeholders to coordinate scientific research to confirm stearic’s benefit.