Is palm oil safe in shelf-stable foods like cookies and crackers?

I know hydrogenated palm oil has tons of transfats, but I'm seeing non-hydrogenated palm oil in products like Newman's Own cookies and Skippy Natural peanut butter. Neither show any transfats on their labels, but I'm curious as to whether or not I should be concerned regardless.

Is palm oil safe in shelf-stable foods like cookies and crackers?
Palm oil is naturally high in saturated fats, and some manufacturers even hydrogenate their palm oil to create a fully-saturated fat.





Some points about saturated fats:





* have a relatively long shelf life compared to mono- or poly-unsaturated fats, and fully saturated fats even longer.


* have a higher melting point -- that is, they stay solid at room temperatures, whereas mono- and poly-unsaturated fats are almost always liquid at room temperature (olive oil, canola oil, etc.)


* are more difficult for your body to break down


* taste slightly better. (As Emeril says: pork fat rules!)





In fact, unsaturated fats require refridgeration to stay good for a good length of time, which is why you are supposed to keep food high in unsaturated fats like wheat germ, almonds, or cod liver oil in the fridge.





Edible oils are made out of strings of fatty acid chains. Each fatty acid can have all of its bonds taken up by hydrogen atoms giving a saturated fatty acid. If one or more of these carbon bonds are not taken up by a hydrogen atom, that creates an unsaturated fatty acid. If one of the fatty acids in the chain is unsaturated, that is a mono-unsaturated fat. If many of them are unsaturated, it is called a poly-unsaturated fats. To be "fully saturated", every fatty acid in an oil must be a saturated one. "Hyrdogenating" means that you force some of the unsaturated fatty acids to accept a new hydrogen atom, thus making them saturated. Manufacturers use hydrogenation to give oils that are cheaper to produce the qualities of saturated fats listed above.





Trans fats are fats that have both their carbon bonds for each fatty acid on opposite sides of the molecule. The opposite is cis fats, which have both bonds on the same side. Studies have shown that trans fats create all manner of health problems, and should be generally avoided. Any fat, including unsaturated ones can include trans fatty acids in their chains, and should be avoided. The worst of course is saturated fats that have trans fatty acids in them, like some hydrogenated margarines. (And we used to think that margarine was better for us than butter!)





So, your cookies and crackers should last a pretty good amount of time, and of course, are not so healthy for you.