Dow Seeks To Double Zero Trans Fat Oil Output

NEW YORK - Apr 11/06 - SNS -- Dow AgroSciences LLC plans to increase production of its line of zero trans fat and low saturated fat vegetable oils 35% this year and to double North American output by 2007.

Marketed under the trade name, Natreon, Dow says its vegetable oils have a longer fry life than partially hydrogenated (PH) oils that are prevalent in the food supply today. In addition, the line of vegetable oils contain 80% less trans and saturated fat content than fries cooked in PH soybean oil.

"The food industry is under enormous pressure to get 'bad fats' out of foods and off of menus," says David Dzisiak, global business leader for oils at Dow AgroSciences. "Natreon canola and sunflower oils offer zero trans fats and the lowest level of saturated fats on the market today."

Dow uses some of the newly developed canola and sunflower varieties to produce the oils. "We expect to have more than a half a billion pounds of Natreon high stability canola and sunflower oils this year," said Dzisiak. "In 2007, Dow AgroSciences and our processing partners can more than double this capacity to over 1.2 billion pounds."

More than 8 billion pounds of partially hydrogenated oils are present in the U.S. food supply -- contributing over 1.5 billion pounds of trans fat to the American diet. Partially hydrogenation is used by the food service sector to make vegetable oils more stable and able to meet the high intensity demands of frying. Trans fats are formed during the chemical process of partial hydrogenation.