Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the prevalence of trans fats in food in the UK.

No estimate has been made. The most recent data from the United Kingdom National Diet and Nutrition Survey, collected between 2016 and 2019, show that average trans fat intakes in the UK are 0.5-0.6% of total energy intake for adults, and 0.5% for children. This is well within the UK recommended maximum of no more than 2% of total energy.

Trans fat intakes in the UK have declined substantially since the 1980s and 1990s due to the voluntary removal of artificial trans fats from processed foods by the food industry, with some additional work to reduce levels of trans fats in food being undertaken between 2011 and 2013.