Mass production of foods and extremely large variety of food products make the quantification ofrntheir nutrient composition a difficult task. Regulations on mandatory product labeling vary fromrncountry to country, but rarely include details of fatty acid composition. Ethiopia imports severalrntons of food items composed of entirely fatty acids and considerable amount of fat. However, therernis no regulatory basis for control of fatty acid composition. Therefore, the present study has beenrninitiated to evaluate the hydrogenation process and determine the TFA level and somernphysicochemical characteristics of hydrogenated food products in the markets of Addis Ababa.rnSamples in triplicate from each of the selected commercial margarines (MO1, MO2, MO3),rnvegetable ghee (GO1, GO2, GO3) and shortenings (SO1, SO2, SO3) were analyzed for theirrnphysicochemical characteristics and fatty acid composition. Physicochemical characteristics wererndetermined following standard methods. The total composition of fatty acids of the isolated fat wasrndetermined by gas chromatography (GC). Characterization of the fatty acids was done usingrncommercial standard reference material of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME). The process conditionsrnof hydrogenation at Addis Modjo Edible Oil Complex (AMEOC) were evaluated to see their effectsrnon TFA level. The data obtained from the laboratory analysis were subjected to ANOVA using SPSSrnsoftware. TFA level of 3% was used as a reference mean (control). All the TFA means were thenrncompared and significance was set at 5% level. The results showed that all the samples contained arnconsiderable amount of TFA ranging from 18.9 to 52.6%, and significant mean differences werernobserved at p< 0.05. The physicochemical characteristics and other fatty acid values were found tornbe within the recommended range. Investigation of the hydrogenation process at AMEOC revealedrnthat the high TFA is partly related to the hydrogenation method currently employed in the complex.rnThe present study clearly indicated that the hydrogenated food products in Addis Ababaâ€™s marketsrncontain higher TFA levels compared to the same products studied in Europe and America. In thisrnsituation, continuous consumption of both local and imported hydrogenated food products mayrnexpose to greater risk of cardiovascular diseases. Reducing trans fatty acids through processrnoptimization and introduction of enzymatic interesterification is unquestionably essential.