Yes, ghee has a little trans fat, and all of it comes from the cow. Analyses of milk fat, butter and shop-bought ghee put it at roughly 2.4 to 4 g of trans fat per 100 g of fat, mostly vaccenic acid, which is far below the 25 to 45 per cent the WHO gives for partially hydrogenated oil. USDA's ghee record lists 0 g, but that figure is read off a product label.
Below are the figures for ghee itself. The history of vanaspati and dalda is in our article on ghee versus vanaspati. If you have a heart condition, high cholesterol or another reason to watch your fat intake, follow your doctor's advice.
At a glance
- USDA FoodData Central's record for clarified butter (ghee) lists 0.0 g of trans fat per 100 g, a figure its own notes mark as back-calculated from a product label.
- USDA's record for salted butter lists 3.28 g of trans fat per 100 g of butter, which works out to about 4.0 g per 100 g of fat.
- A 2024 laboratory analysis of shop-bought ghee in Tehran (Mohammadi-Nasrabadi and others) measured 3.60 g of trans fat per 100 g of fat, mostly vaccenic acid.
- A review of bovine milk fat (Lindmark Månsson, 2008) puts trans fatty acids at about 2.7 per cent of the fatty acids in Swedish milk.
- FSSAI caps industrial trans fat at 2 per cent of the fat in foods made with oils and fats from 1 January 2022, but its definition excludes trans fat from dairy, so ghee is outside that cap.
How much trans fat does ghee contain?
A few grams per 100 g of fat. The 2024 Tehran analysis measured 3.60 g per 100 g of fat in ghee and 2.43 g in butter. USDA's salted butter record works out to about 4.0 g per 100 g of fat. The Månsson review gives about 2.7 per cent of milk fatty acids. None of the analysed figures is large.
The figures are different kinds of measurement. The Tehran study was a laboratory analysis of 60 samples of best-selling butter, ghee and margarine brands from five chain stores, tested by gas chromatography. The Månsson review describes Swedish dairy milk sampled in 2001, and notes that the trans figure changes with the season.
India has less data. An ICMR-NIN survey of 320 edible oils and fats, including 39 ghee samples, reported that a "trace amount" of trans fat was detected in ghee. The abstract gives no number.
For scale: a 5 g spoon of ghee, which is almost all fat, carries about 0.18 g of trans fat at the Tehran figure (5 × 0.036). The WHO's limit for all trans fat is under 2.2 g a day on a 2,000 kcal diet.
Why does USDA list 0 g of trans fat for ghee?
Because the figure comes from a label. USDA's record "Butter, Clarified butter (ghee)" marks its trans fat value as a label claim back-calculated by USDA staff. Under United States labelling rules, a serving with less than 0.5 g of trans fat is declared as zero. So the 0.0 may mean under 0.5 g per serving rather than none.
USDA's "Butter oil, anhydrous" record, used in our ghee nutrition guide, lists no trans fat figure at all. The butter record is the better guide. Salted butter, at 81.1 g of fat per 100 g, lists 3.28 g of total trans fat, of which 2.98 g is the trans form of an 18-carbon fatty acid. Ghee is butterfat without the water and milk solids, so its trans fat per 100 g of fat should sit near butter's, though no USDA record measures ghee directly.
What kind of trans fat is in ghee?
Ruminant trans fat, which forms in the cow and passes into its milk. The Månsson review names vaccenic acid as the main 18-carbon trans fatty acid in milk fat, and also describes conjugated linoleic acid, mainly rumenic acid. Industrial trans fat is made instead when vegetable oil is partially hydrogenated.
The review says most of the rumenic acid in milk fat is made in the cow's mammary gland from vaccenic acid, and puts it at about 0.4 per cent of Swedish milk fat. The Tehran analysis found vaccenic acid the main trans fatty acid in its ghee, at 2.41 g per 100 g of fat; in margarine it was elaidic acid, from plant oils.
The WHO draws the same line: industrial trans fat comes from a process "that adds hydrogen to vegetable oil", while trans fat "can also be found naturally in meat and dairy foods from ruminant animals (e.g. cows, sheep, goats)". Ghee involves no hydrogenation; FSSAI describes processes that remove almost all the water and milk solids-not-fat.
How does ghee's trans fat compare with butter and vanaspati?
Ghee and butter carry similar amounts of natural trans fat, a few grams per 100 g of fat. Partially hydrogenated oil, the WHO says, averages 25 to 45 per cent trans fat. Vanaspati sold in India since 2022 may legally contain no more than 2 per cent by weight, which is less than the analyses above found in milk fat.
| Fat | Trans fat, as reported | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Ghee (clarified butter) | 0.0 g per 100 g, label claim | USDA FoodData Central record 171314 |
| Ghee, shop-bought, Tehran | 3.60 g per 100 g of fat | Mohammadi-Nasrabadi and others, 2024 |
| Butter, shop-bought, Tehran | 2.43 g per 100 g of fat | Mohammadi-Nasrabadi and others, 2024 |
| Butter, salted | 3.28 g per 100 g of butter; about 4.0 g per 100 g of fat (3.28 ÷ 81.1 × 100) | USDA FoodData Central record 173410 |
| Milk fat, Sweden | About 2.7 % of fatty acids | Lindmark Månsson, 2008 |
| Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil | 25 to 45 % on average | WHO trans fat fact sheet |
| Vanaspati, legal maximum in India | 2 % by weight, from 1 January 2022 | FSSAI regulation 2.2.6 |
Each source reports trans fat in its own unit, and the rows describe different things: a label, shop samples, a dairy survey, a WHO average and a legal ceiling. None describes a particular jar. For the saturated fat that makes up most of ghee, see whether ghee is saturated or unsaturated fat.
What are FSSAI's trans fat limits, and do they cover ghee?
FSSAI sets two limits, and neither covers ghee's natural trans fat. Vanaspati and several other fats may hold no more than 2 per cent trans fat by weight from 1 January 2022. Foods made with oils and fats may hold no more than 2 per cent industrial trans fat, a term that excludes dairy fat.
The FSSAI standard for oils and fats took the vanaspati cap from 5 per cent to 3 per cent in 2021, then to "not more than 2% by weight, on and from 1st January, 2022". The Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations add that foods in which edible oils and fats are an ingredient "shall not contain industrial trans fatty acids more than 2% by mass of the total oils/fats present in the product, on and from 01st January, 2022".
The same regulations define industrial trans fatty acids and add: "It excludes trans-fatty acids from dairy, meat, fish and their products." So ghee can carry a few grams of natural trans fat per 100 g of fat and still meet the law.
Can a trans fat figure tell you whether ghee is pure?
Only at the extremes. A product sold as ghee must be milk fat alone, so a trans fat figure far above milk fat's few per cent would point to partially hydrogenated fat in the jar. A normal figure proves little, because vanaspati made to the 2022 limit may carry less trans fat than the figures above for ghee.
The FSSAI standard for milk fat products (regulation 2.1.8) describes ghee as a fatty product "derived exclusively from milk or products obtained from milk", with at least 99.5 per cent milk fat and a raw material free from added flavour, colour or preservative. It does not set a trans fat figure for ghee. Among its checks, three bear directly on vegetable fat:
- Baudouin test: must be negative. Vanaspati must contain sesame oil, which turns this test positive.
- β-sitosterol: must be absent, tested by a method FSSAI names for detecting vegetable oil in ghee.
- Fatty acid composition: must fall within set ranges for each main fatty acid, from butyric acid at 1 to 5 per cent to oleic acid at 19 to 32 per cent.
A batch report that lists these results tells you more than a trans fat figure does. Himdhara publishes the laboratory report for each batch on our lab reports page before the batch ships.
Is the natural trans fat in ghee harmless?
The WHO says it is not. Its trans fat fact sheet states that "both industrially produced and naturally occurring trans fat are equally harmful", and asks adults to keep all trans fat under 1 per cent of total energy. Ghee's trans fat being natural is therefore not a point in its favour.
For individuals, the fact sheet advises avoiding partially hydrogenated oil in fried and baked foods and reducing meat and dairy foods from ruminant animals. The amounts in ghee are small, but they count towards the same daily total. If you are managing cholesterol or heart disease, your doctor's advice comes first.
The short version
Ghee contains a small amount of natural trans fat from the cow, mostly vaccenic acid. Analyses of milk fat, butter and ghee put it at roughly 2.4 to 4 g per 100 g of fat; USDA's 0 g for ghee is a figure taken from a product label. FSSAI's 2 per cent limits cover vanaspati and industrial trans fat, not dairy fat. The WHO calls natural and industrial trans fat equally harmful and asks adults to keep all trans fat under 1 per cent of energy, so follow your doctor's advice if you have a medical condition.
Sources
Further reading behind the figures above. Himdhara's own numbers — yields, batch results — come from our production records and the batch reports on the lab reports page.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (2019). Butter, Clarified butter (ghee). FoodData Central (SR Legacy).
- Mohammadi-Nasrabadi F and others (2024). A Comparative Analysis of Butter, Ghee, and Margarine and Its Implications for Healthier Fat and Oil Group Choices: SWOT Analysis. Food Science & Nutrition.
- Lindmark Månsson H (2008). Fatty acids in bovine milk fat. Food & Nutrition Research.
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (2021). Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011. FSSAI compendium.
- World Health Organization (2024). Trans fat. WHO fact sheets.