On May 11, 2018, Decree No. 114/2018 dated April 24, 2018, published in the Official Journal on May 10, 2018 came into force, providing for the progressive reduction of trans fats of industrial production as an ingredient in the food to be released for consumption in the national territory.
In accordance with article 2.7.4. of the MERCOSUR Technical Regulation "on the nutritional labeling of packaged foods", approved by article 5 of Decree 117/2006, trans fats are defined as "triglycerides containing unsaturated fatty acids with one or more double bonds in trans configuration, expressed as free fatty acids".
The food industry will have a maximum period of 18 months to reduce the trans fats of industrial production. In this sense, the decree establishes that the content must not be greater than 2% of the total content of fats in vegetable oils and margarines intended for direct consumption and greater than 5% of the total fats in the rest of the foods (the aforementioned limits will not apply to fats from ruminants, including the milk fat of the product).
In turn, the food industry will have a period of 4 years for the content of trans fats not to exceed 2% of total fat, both in direct consumption foods and in industrial use ingredients (with the same clarifications that were made at the end of the previous paragraph).
The decree also establishes that the processors, importers and/or middle men, will be responsible for compliance with the rules established by it, in accordance to the terms of the National Bromatological Regulation, being subject to sanctions.
Finally, it is provided that the decree will be incorporated into the National Bromatological Regulation.
Montevideo, May 2018