The Food and Drug Administration is looking to finally do away with the harmful fat that has been slowly reduced from many foods over the past decade.
In the past, the FDA has estimated that Americans eat about 4.7 pounds of trans fat in a year, NBC News reports. Trans fat helps increase a person's risk for heart disease since it affects levels for both the good and bad cholesterol in the body.
One of the previous steps taken by the FDA, was to require trans fat to be included on nutritional labels by all food manufacturers in 2006. Six years ago, New York City had trans fat outlawed from city restaurants.
According to The Associated Press, about 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths could be prevented every year if trans fat is banned, Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said.
The ban won't happen immediately. "We want to do it in a way that doesn't unduly disrupt markets," FDA's deputy commissioner for foods, Michael Taylor said. The food "industry has demonstrated that it is by and large feasible to do so."
Though trans fat has largely fallen by the wayside in food products, some processed foods still contain the bad fat, including frozen pizzas, ready-to-use frosting and refrigerated doughs.