Presenter: Dr. Gerald McNeill, PhD

Format: MP4 Video file download
Includes: Video & Slides

About 50 years ago, a glut of soybean in the U.S. lead to the introduction of a new chemical process: “partially hydrogenated oils” (PHO). The process converts liquid oils into semi-solid?shortenings that have the same texture as butter and other animal fats. The process is extremely versatile and many new textures were created, displacing butter and leading to a golden age in the baking and snack food industries.

Eventually, nutrition science discovered that the main fat in PHO,?trans?fat, was ten times worse than saturated fat. On June 18th?2015 the FDA announced that PHO were no longer GRAS (generally recognized as safe). This presentation will discuss the events leading to the adoption of PHO,?to a major decline in public health and finally a recovery with the elimination of?trans?fat from the food supply.