South Africa planning to ban trans fats in foods

In South Africa,  Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has told Parliament that his department intends to introduce rules banning industrially produced trans fats in all processed and prepared foods.

Giving a written reply on Thursday to a question from the Democratic Alliance's Winston Rabotapi, the minister said that the process began earlier this year when his predecessor, Barbara Hogan, gave permission for the department to proceed with the process of developing draft regulations.   "The Department envisages for the draft regulations to be published before the end of 2009, and for the final regulations before the end of the first quarter of 2010, which will include a six-month grace period for the industry to comply with the requirements thereof,"the minister added.