Turkey's position in the global struggle against trans fatty acids: Legal regulations, labeling, strategies for reducing consumption

Although the negative effects of trans fat consumption are well documented, industrially produced trans fats are still used in a variety of food products. With the 'REPLACE' action plan of the World Health Organization, which aims to reduce global trans fat consumption to zero by 2023, steps are taken by the countries of the world to zero trans fat. In this thesis study, the trans fat content information of packaged food products in the market in Turkey and the types of fats used (6 most common) were investigated. In total, 1411 packaged food products divided into 11 categories were examined and it was determined that 71.2% of these products had trans fat-free ingredients. It has been observed that 18.1% of these products contain fat components that are unlikely to contain trans fat. According to the label information, the usage rate of 'no trans fat or trans fat free' statements in all categories is 25%. According to the data obtained, it has been determined that 1% of packaged foods offered for sale in Turkey use industrial oil containing trans fat, 2.4% contain components that may contain trans fats with a probable, and ambiguous expressions are used in the content information in 7.1% has been done. The oil types used are generally 32.61% palm oil and 20.72% sunflower oil. It has been concluded that effective policies should be developed, existing policies should be updated, ambiguous statements in labeling information should be avoided, and control mechanisms should work actively in order to further reduce the current level in line with the policy of zeroing trans fat.