Last updated on February 27th, 2017 at 09:06 am
CVS Pharmacy claims it is the first national retail pharmacy chain to announce the removal of partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), the primary source of artificial trans fats in processed foods, from all of its exclusive store brand food products.
The retailer says it offers more than 600 exclusive snack and grocery options that are free from artificial trans fats. This comes a year and a half ahead of the FDA’s deadline of June 2018 for processed foods to be reformulated without artificial trans fats.
Artificial trans fat has been linked to rising rates of heart disease in the U.S.
“We applaud CVS Pharmacy for working proactively to remove artificial trans fats from its store brands products well in advance of the federal deadline,” said Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, chief medical officer for prevention for the American Heart Association. “The early removal of trans fats in all CVS Pharmacy store brand products will help to improve overall heart health and prevent heart disease for many Americans.”
Since January, all snack and grocery store brands products developed by CVS Pharmacy and shipping to distribution centers have been free from artificial trans fats.
