Kenya misses WHO recognition after failure to ban killer cooking fats

Kenya has missed out on this year's list of new countries being recognised for ending killer cooking fats in food.

 The harmful compounds, called industrially produced trans fats, clog arteries, increasing the risk of heart attacks, and are found in many solid cooking fats, including some types of margarine.

Countries had agreed to eliminate them from the global food supply by 2023, a deadline Kenya has missed for the third year.

 The World Health Organization last week recognised four new countries that met this deadline.

While Kenya has Legal Notice No. 115 of 2015 under the Food, Drugs, and Chemical Substances Act (CAP 254), which addresses trans fat regulation, its enforcement remains a challenge due to the lack of specified limits on industrially produced trans fats (iTFAs).

 The four countries that were recognised have implemented best-practice policies alongside effective monitoring and enforcement mechanisms to promote public health.

 They are the Republic of Austria, the Kingdom of Norway, the Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of Singapore.

 The WHO validation certificates were officially presented by WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly.

 “Eliminating industrially produced trans fats is one of the most cost-effective strategies to reduce the global burden of cardiovascular diseases. Trans fats are a major contributor to preventable deaths each year, particularly due to their impact on heart health,” said Ghebreyesus in a statement.

 “These countries are not only protecting the health of their populations, but also setting an exemplary standard for other countries to follow.”

 This recognition marks another significant milestone in the global effort to eliminate trans fats, reflecting not only policy commitments but also the concrete actions being taken to remove trans fat from the food supply.

 Trans fats are linked to over 278 000 deaths each year globally.

 They are often found in many baked goods such as biscuits, pies and fried foods, as well as margarine and vegetable shortening among many others. Both industrially produced and naturally occurring trans fats are equally harmful.

 In 2018, the WHO called for the global elimination of industrially produced trans fats.

 At that time, only 11 countries covering six per cent of the global population had best-practice trans-fat elimination policies in effect. Today, nearly 60 countries have best-practice policies in effect, covering 46 per cent of the global population.

 The WHO validation programme for trans fat elimination recognises countries that have gone beyond introducing best practice policies by ensuring rigorous monitoring and enforcement systems in place. Monitoring and enforcing compliance with policies is critical to maximising and sustaining health benefits.

 The Nairobi-based International Institute for Legislative Affairs (IILA) has been advocating for Kenya to implement mandatory regulations to eliminate industrially produced trans fats in foods.

 “There is a need to reduce the burden of Nono-Communicable Diseases. We are advocating for the inclusion of specified limits in the legal notice. As it stands, without these limits, it is not implementable,” says Gideon Ogutu, Programme Officer for Health Governance at the IILA.

 ILA provides strategic support to national efforts in Kenya to implement robust regulatory frameworks on trans-fats, and if proposals by a technical committee are adopted, edible oil manufacturers will be required to limit their fatty acid levels to two grams per 100 grammes of the total fat.

 Replacing trans fats with healthier oils and fats is a low-cost intervention that yields high economic returns by improving population health, saving lives and reducing healthcare costs.

 Governments can eliminate the cause of 7 per cent of cardiovascular disease globally with a low-cost investment aimed at reducing or eliminating trans fats from the food supply.

 Celine Awuor, CEO of IILA, recently said the two best-practice policies for trans-fatty acids elimination are mandatory national limit of two grammes of industrially produced trans-fatty acids per 100g of total fat in all foods or a mandatory national ban.

 She said Kenya has a national policy commitment to eliminate trans-fatty acids.

 “Under the key strategies in pillar two of the NCD strategic plan, Kenya commits to establish national regulatory and fiscal policies to promote healthy diets such as trans-fat regulation, regulation of marketing of unhealthy foods and non-alcoholic drinks to children, fiscal policies on sugar sweetened beverages and front of pack standards,” she said.