Trans fat—at least the artifical kind—will no longer be found in our favorite shelf-stable products from Twinkies to Thin Mints, thanks to a ruling by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has set a 2018 deadline for food companies to eliminate trans fat from their products. (They’re still OK in products like meat and cheese where they occur naturally.) The move comes after decades of research finding consuming trans fat is strongly linked to heart disease and obesity.
It turns out a lot of our favorite treats are laden with the stuff after food companies turned to partially hydrogenated oils as a cheaper alternative to butter and lard in the last 100 years. But many brands have managed to hide trans fat from their nutrition label thanks to a loophole that says products with fewer than 0.5 grams of the stuff per arbitrary serving don’t need to list it. You can outsmart these food companies by looking at the ingredient list. If there’s partially hydrogenated oil, then there’s trans fat.
And while the FDA ruling is a good thing for our health—it’s estimated to save $140 billion over 20 years in healthcare costs—the ban also means that these brands may never taste the same.
The 25 Things That Will Never Taste the Same
View Gallery1. Ritz Crackers
View Gallery2. Pillsbury Funfetti Vanilla Frosting
View Gallery3. Drake’s Devil Dogs
View Gallery4. Sara Lee New York Style Cheesecake
View Gallery5. Thin Mints
6. Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls
View Gallery7. Kellogg’s Apple Jacks
View Gallery8. Chips Ahoy!
View Gallery9. Hostess Twinkies
View Gallery10. Jimmy Dean’s Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit Sandwich
View Gallery11. Fruit Gushers
View Gallery12. Pop-Secret Popcorn
View Gallery13. Coffee-Mate Original
View Gallery14. Special K Cereal Bars
View Gallery15. Betty Crocker Super Moist Yellow Cake Mix
View Gallery16. Fruit by the Foot
View Gallery17. Drake’s Coffee Cakes
18. Bisquick
View Gallery19. Nutter Butter
View Gallery20. Nabisco Saltine Crackers
View Gallery21. Hostess Donettes
View Gallery22. Crisco Vegetable Shortening
View Gallery23. Pillsbury Pie Crust
View Gallery24. Marie Callendar’s Dutch Apple Pie
View Gallery25. Tootsie Roll
Originally published November 2013. Updated June 2015.