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Big Apple trying to ban trans fat
BY MELANIE LEFKOWITZ
Newsday Staff Writer
September 26, 2006, 9:09 PM EDT
The city's health department wants trans fat in restaurants to go the way of the cigarette.
In a hearing Tuesday, the Department of Health took the first step toward banning nearly all of the heart-harming fats from city restaurants by July 2008.
"Eliminating trans fat is eliminating a hazardous, unnecessary chemical that is harmful," said city Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden. "When it's gone, no one will miss it, our food variety and taste will be just the same, and our food will be even healthier."
Officials say the proposal, subject to approval by the Board of Health after a public hearing scheduled for late October, would make New York City the first municipality in the United States to ban partially hydrogenated fats, or artificial trans fats, in its restaurants. Chicago is considering a similar ban, which Frieden said has been successfully implemented in Denmark.
Trans fat, most commonly an artificial fat generally added to food to increase its shelf life, is considered to be the most dangerous fat because it increases the "bad" kind of cholesterol while decreasing the "good" kind. It's commonly used in baked goods, French fries, piecrusts, taco shells, most margarines and various pre-packaged foods. The city estimates that heart disease caused by artificial trans fat consumption kills more than 500 New Yorkers a year.
If approved, the rule, which would be enforced by health inspectors, would require all restaurants to switch to oil, margarine and shortening with less than .5 grams of trans fats per serving by July 1, 2007; and to do the same with all food items by July 1, 2008.
The proposal follows a yearlong initiative to encourage restaurants to voluntarily reduce their trans fat use. After a year of training and outreach, the percentage of restaurants cutting out trans fats has not changed, Frieden said.
"One of the issues is a certain inertia. It does take effort to change, and it's not the case that it will be totally simple and easy for all restaurants," he said. "We think that this proposal actually will make it easier for all food service establishments to comply, and our information is that the cost is roughly analogous, and the availability is increasingly there."
The department has also proposed requiring restaurants that keep track of nutritional content to post calorie counts on menus. This rule would affect only restaurants that standardize their servings -- basically, large-chain establishments such as Starbucks and McDonald's.
In a statement, Walt Riker, McDonald's vice president of corporate communications, said the company already prints nutritional information on its packaging, tray liners, Web site and brochures.
"Concerning trans fats, McDonald's knows this is an important issue, which is why we continue to test in earnest to find ways to further reduce [trans fat] levels," the statement said. "We will closely examine the board's proposal."
H. Kenneth Woods, president and chief executive of Sylvia's Restaurant in Harlem, said that eliminating trans fat in the past year from a menu famous for its soul food has been a relatively painless process.
"There has not been a significant change in cost," he said. "We did some experimenting, and we found no difference in the quality of the products we took out the trans fats."
Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.
