Evaluation of the Presence of Trans-Fatty Acids in Bread, Cake, Meat Pie and Doughnut Obtained from Some Fast Foods Available in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria

Trans-fatty acids have been implicated in epidemiological studies to be responsible for serious health conditions like cardiovascular diseases and in 2023 the World Health Organization plans to eliminate industrial Trans-fatty acids globally. However, data on prevalence of Trans-fatty acids in diets in Nigeria remain limited. Hence, the objective of this paper was to evaluate the presence of Trans-fatty acids in Bread, Cake, Meat pie, and Doughnut obtained from some fast foods available in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria using appropriate standard methods. Data obtained reveals that Trans-fatty acids was predominant in Bread and cake and less in meat pie and doughnut. One of the doughnut samples had the greatest proportion of Linoelaidic acid with peak area 9.73%. The result of this study indicates partial compliance with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines in the elimination of trans-fatty acids from food samples investigated. However, there is an urgent need to step up efforts to completely eliminate trans-fatty acids from food products in line with the WHO REPLACE project.