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Consistent evidence exist on the harmful health effects of industrial trans fatty acids (TFA). In order to have accurate data on TFA intake and implement adequate measures to reduce their intake, each country should have updated estimates of TFA content in the diet. The objective of the present study was to provide data on the TFA content in food commercialized in the Portuguese market. The results on the TFA content of 268 samples acquired between October and December 2013 are reported. Samples were categorized as margarines and shortenings (n = 16), spreadable chocolate fats (n = 6), fried potatoes and chips (n = 25), industrial bakery (n = 4), breakfast cereals (n = 3), pastry products (n = 120), seasonings (n = 5), instant soups (n = 5), instant desserts (n = 6), chocolate snacks (n = 4), microwave popcorn (n = 4), cookies, biscuits and wafers (n = 53), and fast-food (n = 13), with butter (n = 4) included for comparison purposes. TFA were quantified by gas chromatography. Total TFA content in the fat ranged from 0.06% to 30.2% (average 1.9%), with the highest average values in the “biscuits, wafers and cookies” group (3.4% TFA), followed by the pastry group (2.0%). Fifty samples (19%) had TFA superior to 2% in the fat. These findings highlight there is still much need for improvement in terms of the TFA content in Portuguese foods, particularly in traditional pastry., Highlights • Trans fatty acids content in Portuguese food is updated. • Most food categories have very low TFA contents. • Some fats used in local pastry have high TFA contents. • Inaccurate fat designations might induce incorrect choices.

Soluble coffee and coffee substitutes' consumption has grown considerably in recent years. These products, prepared from roasted coffee and/or cereal extracts, are more consumer-friendly than plain coffee, being usually cheaper. During roasting, several toxic compounds can be produced from carbohydrate degradation in presence of aminoacids, including 4-methylimidazole (4-MeI). This work aimed to screen the presence of 4-MeI in soluble coffee and its surrogates commercialized in Portugal using a previously validated gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) method. In a total of 45 soluble samples analyzed, including 10 plain coffees, 8 decaffeinated coffees, 12 cereal mixtures with coffee and 15 cereal mixtures without coffee, all the samples were positive for 4-MeI, with levels that ranged from 136 to 1411 μg/kg. All cereal-containing samples had significantly higher amounts (p

Cookies and biscuits are a recognized source of trans fatty acids (TFA). Aware of its consumption worldwide, an update on TFA content was taken in 2012, in a total of 50 samples commercialized in Portugal. Despite the absence of specific Portuguese legislation, TFA amounts in cookies and biscuits are generally low, with TFA amounts lower than 0.1 g per 100 g, and an average of 0.6% in the extracted fat in 49 of the 50 samples analyzed. Unfortunately, one sample presented 27% of TFA in the lipids, highlighting that the problem is still present. Also, a high prevalence of saturated fatty acids was observed, as high as 92.4% in the fat (53.0% on average). This fact is also a major health concern, particularly when the reformulation of these products in the last years (2006–2012) was effective regarding TFA reduction but seemed to have occurred at expenses of increasing SFA, thus reducing the potential beneficial effect achievable by replacing with cis -unsaturated fats, as generally recommended.