Objective: To assess progress towards the elimination of trans-fatty acids (TFA) in foods after the 2008 Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) recommendation of virtual elimination of TFA in Latin America.
Design: A descriptive, comparative analysis of foods that were likely to contain TFA and were commonly consumed in four cities in Latin America.
Setting: San José (Costa Rica), Mexico City (Mexico), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Buenos Aires (Argentina).
Subjects: Foods from each city were sampled in 2011; TFA content was analysed using GC. TFA of selected foods was also monitored in 2016.
Results: In 2011-2016, there was a significant decrease in the content of TFA in the sampled foods across all sites, particularly in Buenos Aires (from 12·6-34·8 % range in 2011-2012 to nearly 0 % in 2015-2016). All sample products met the recommended levels of TFA content set by the PAHO. TFA were replaced with a mixture of saturated and unsaturated fats.
Conclusions: Our results indicate a virtual elimination of TFA from major food sources in the cities studied. This could be due to a combination of factors, including recommendations by national and global public health authorities, voluntary and/or mandatory food reformulation made by the food industry.
Keywords: Food samples; Latin America; Trans-fatty acids.