Anyone with doubts that doughnuts are fattening has had them removed by the Consumer Council.
The watchdog found in tests that doughnuts were loaded with trans-fats that could cause obesity and even lead to serious health problems such as heart disease.
Tests done jointly by the council and the Centre for Food Safety found that one doughnut contained as much as 2.2 grams of the fats, exceeding the World Health Organisation's recommended limit for a full day's intake. Two other popular sweet treats were found to contain high levels of the fats.
A traditional lo por beng (wife cake) from the Wing Wah cake shop had 1.7 grams per 100 grams and a Garden Company's vanilla-flavoured cream wafer 1.3.
The council said that a person eating one piece of wife cake would consume close to 60 per cent of the recommended daily intake of fats.
Lawmaker Fred Li Wah-ming, the Democratic Party's consumer affairs spokesman, urged food manufacturers to use non-hydrogenated oils as substitutes and advised the public to eat less crispy and fried food.
Mr Li did not see a big difference in the taste of foods made with non-hydrogenated oils, and said there were no excuses for manufacturers not to use healthier substitutes.
The fatty doughnut sample was from Krispy Kreme and was found to have 4.7 grams of trans-fat per 100 grams, while two other doughnut samples from Arome Bakery and A-1 Bakery had considerably less - 0.25 grams and 0.46 grams respectively.
Anne Fung Yu-kei, a principal medical officer at the Centre for Food Safety, said there was a wide variation in the level of trans-fats in food products.
Dr Fung said trans-fats could affect the heart and increase the risk of coronary disease.
Ambrose Ho, chairman of publicity and the community relations committee of the council, advised food manufacturers to avoid using hydrogenated vegetable oils in their products and develop methods to reduce trans-fats content. Seven samples were found to have variations in their nutrition labelling which might be misleading to consumers.
The Centre for Food Safety has sent warning letters to these distributors and manufacturers told them to change the labels within two weeks.
Companies like using trans-fats in their foods because they are easy to use, inexpensive to produce and last a long time.
A spokeswoman for Wing Wah said the company was aware of the health concerns and would continue to study possible substitutes. The Garden Company said it had identified some replacements but needed to study quality control and make sure the product still tasted good. Krispy Kreme had no comment.
A total of 85 food products, including those from bakeries, ready-to-eat savouries, instant noodles, soups, milk products, mayonnaise, chocolate spreads, peanut butters and chocolate, were tested. Eighty-one were found to contain trans-fats.
The council and the Centre for Food Safety also did tests last October on 80 food products, in which cream-filled bread was found to contain the highest level of trans-fats with 1.8 grams per 100 grams.
SCMP. May 15, 2008.
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