How we save lives / Healthier food / Trans fat elimination

Trans fat elimination

Artificial trans fat can be eliminated and replaced with healthier alternatives.

Trans fat is a harmful compound that increases the risk of heart attack and death.

It is estimated to cause more than half a million deaths every year, globally.

The number of countries taking action is accelerating rapidly

Our goal

Eliminate artificial trans fat from the global food supply.

How we work

We partnered with the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop and support REPLACE, an initiative to eliminate artificial trans fat from the global food supply by providing governments the tools to regulate trans fat and manufacturers the recipe to do so. The REPLACE action package is a six-module, step-by step guide for governments to eliminate trans fat from their food supply.

We also work with national governments to pass and implement best practice policies to eliminate exposure to trans fat and increase the availability of healthier alternatives. In collaboration with our partner, the Global Health Advocacy Incubator, we also support local civil society organizations to make the case for trans fat elimination to national governments and the public.

We support public awareness campaigns to build support for removing trans fat from the global food supply. We also support research on trans fat levels in food and are working with WHO to build lab capacity across multiple regions.

Our work in action

Since the REPLACE initiative was announced in 2018, an additional 50 countries (3.4 billion people) have gained protection through policies eliminating trans fat.
At the start of 2025, 3.9 billion people—just under half the global population—lived in countries with best practice trans fat elimination policies in place.
We’ve created resources to support countries to eliminate trans fat, including a Trans Fat Regulatory Drafting Tool, and have called on major global food producers to eliminate trans fat from their products worldwide.
Countdown to 2023: WHO report on global trans-fat elimination offers detailed information on the status of trans fat elimination efforts around the world.