Yesterday, the FDA announced that trans fats will no longer be “generally recognized as safe” and proposed an initiative to drastically reduce their use in the United States food supply.

Types of Fat

That means no more partially hydrogenated oils in processed foods. This proposal is open for comment for the next 60 days, giving food manufacturers a chance to “prove” that trans fats are safe to consume, despite extensive research associating them with higher LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and lower HDL (“good”) cholesterol and lovely things like heart disease and heart attacks.

Though this could mean a shorter shelf life for products such as cookies and crackers, it could mean a longer life for many Americans.

In other cool news, Kraft unveiled plans this week to replace yellow food dyes in some of its shaped mac & cheese products with plant-based color sources such as turmeric and paprika. The new versions of these products will also feature 6 grams more whole grains and less sodium and saturated fat. Spicy Spiderman, anyone?