Approach

As a member of the International Food and Beverage Alliance (IFBA), PepsiCo has committed:

• Not to exceed 2 grams iTFA per 100 grams of fat/oil per product by end of 2023, in line with the WHO's overall objective of phasing out iTFA and PHOs from the global food supply.
• To share best practices and help guide other companies, particularly small and medium enterprises, in the reduction of iTFA.

PHO's are the main source of industrially-produced trans fat.¹ PepsiCo has led the industry in removing PHOs and transitioning to alternatives such as corn, canola and sunflower oils.² In addition to iTFA found in PHOs, iTFA can form at low levels during the oil refining process. PepsiCo’s Research and Development (R&D) teams and Global Oils Center of Excellence work with our suppliers to ensure they are deploying best practices to limit this incidental iTFA formation and have updated our ingredient specifications to ensure that they comply with the IFBA target.

iTFA limits are also included in PepsiCo’s Nutrition Criteria, which are used as the basis for product formulation around the world.

Our efforts to reduce trans fats in our foods are part of our broader journey to offer consumers Positive Choices and reformulate products to improve nutritional content across our portfolio, including reducing added Sugar, Sodium and Saturated fat content. See Nutrition for more information on those efforts.

Progress

As of the end of 2022, we have met our goal of reducing iTFA to ≤2g per 100g of fat/oil³ by:

• Completely removing PHOs from all product formulations globally as of 2018. Our Frito-Lay U.S. business led the industry in 2003, when it removed PHOs from its products and replaced them with better oils like corn, canola and sunflower; and
• Working with our oil suppliers to deploy best practices to limit incidental iTFA formation during the refining process to ensure the oils we use are compliant with our goal.

Importantly, we have accomplished this transition without compromising progress towards our complementary goal to reduce saturated fat content across our portfolio.

In addition to our reformulation achievements within our portfolio, we are helping lead efforts to reduce iTFA in the global food supply by working with others in industry to share our technical expertise. For example, PepsiCo has participated in workshops in Pakistan (2020) and Jamaica (2023) to provide business-to-business technical assistance to help local companies replace iTFAs in food value chains.

What's next?

PepsiCo continues to support the WHO's efforts to reduce iTFA in the global food supply and plans to continue to explore additional opportunities to share knowledge and best practices with other industry members in support of this work.