Banning hydrogenated fats and vegetable oils
Sainsbury’s were the first major supermarket in Britain to set a date for the banning of hydrogenated vegetable oils (HVOs) from our own brand food and drink .
From 1 January 2007 all own brand food and drink we make will now not contain hydrogenated vegetable oils*. We began the initiative the year before when we presented our suppliers with the huge task of removing HVOs as well as flavour enhancers from the all Sainsbury’s branded products.
Our suppliers and product technologists went back to the kitchen to face this challenge without adversely affecting the product quality and taste you expect from our products.
Why are hydrogenated fats are often used by manufacturers you may ask. Well, they provide key functional properties in food and drink such as regulating its structure and its hardness, but they have been linked to heart disease due to the formation of trans fatty acids (aka trans fats) often being a by-product of hydrogenation.
So, with all the HVOs, transfats will largely be eliminated from Sainsbury’s processed branded products, although it is important to note that HVOs do occur naturally in dairy and meat products.
What is hydrogenated vegetable oils
The British Medical Journal believes food containing trans fats should be clearly labelled. Sainsbury’s believes food shouldn’t contain them at all.
Basically these molecules (see figure1) are a by-product of the hydrogenation of fats, a process used in part to increase food’s shelf-life. Unfortunately when consumed they also increase LDL cholesterol levels and the risk of heart disease. No wonder the British Medical Journal has called for the labelling of the trans fat content in food to help you make healthier choices. However, we think we can do even better.
So as part of our commitment to being ‘best for food and health’, we,ve removed hydrogenated oils and fats and from everything we make.
*Applies to all products produced after 1 January 2007. Products produced before this time may still be on sale.
