NYC Considers War On Bad Fat

City May Sharply Limit Restaurant Use Of Artificial Trans Fatty Acids

(CBS/AP)  Three years after New York City banned smoking in restaurants, city health officials are talking about a new rule for its 24,600 food service establishments: dramatic restrictions on the use of artificial trans fatty acids.

New York's Board of Health Tuesday unveiled a proposal that would sharply limit the use of ingredients that contain the artery-clogging substance, commonly listed on food labels as partially hydrogenated oil.

If the ban goes into effect, offending restaurants could face a $2,000 fine for serving chips, cakes or cookies with too much trans fat, reports CBS News correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi.

The New York Times says the city's Board of Health – which has the authority to impose the restrictions without the consent of any other agency – voted unanimously in favor of the plan to limit artificial trans fats to half a gram per serving. The paper says the rule is subject to a public comment period, a public hearing set for Oct. 30th, and a final vote in December.

A similar plan to restrict trans fats in restaurant food has been proposed in Chicago and is still under consideration, although it has been ridiculed by some as unnecessary government meddling.

The latest version of the Chicago plan would only apply to companies with annual revenues of more than $20 million, a provision aimed exclusively at fast-food giants.

Artificial trans fats are found in some shortenings, margarine and frying oils and turn up in foods from pie crusts to french fries to doughnuts.

Doctors agree that trans fats are unhealthy in nearly any amount, but a spokesman for the restaurant industry said he was stunned the city would seek to ban a legal ingredient found in millions of American kitchens.

"Labeling is one thing, but when they totally ban a product, it goes well beyond what we think is prudent and acceptable," said Chuck Hunt, executive vice president of the city's chapter of the New York State Restaurant Association.

He said the proposal could create havoc: Cooks would be forced to discard old recipes and scrutinize every ingredient in their pantry. A restaurant could face a fine if an inspector finds the wrong type of vegetable shortening on its shelves.

The proposal also would create a huge problem for national chains. Among the fast foods that would need to get an overhaul or face a ban: McDonald's french fries, Kentucky Fried Chicken and several varieties of Dunkin' Donuts.

Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden acknowledged that the ban would be a challenge for restaurants, but he said trans fats can easily be replaced with substitute oils that taste the same or better and are far less unhealthy.

"It is a dangerous and unnecessary ingredient," Frieden said. "No one will miss it when it's gone."

A few companies have moved to eliminate trans fats on their own.

Wendy's announced in August that it had switched to a new cooking oil that contains no trans fatty acids. Crisco now sells a shortening that contains zero trans fats. Frito-Lay removed trans fats from its Doritos and Cheetos. Kraft's took trans fats out of Oreos.

McDonald's began using a trans fat-free cooking oil in Denmark after that country banned artificial trans fats in processed food, but it has yet to do so in the United States.

Walt Riker, vice president of corporate communications at McDonald's, said in a statement Tuesday that the company would review New York's proposal.

"McDonald's knows this is an important issue, which is why we continue to test in earnest to find ways to further reduce (trans fatty acid) levels," he said.

New York's health department had asked restaurants to impose a voluntary ban last year but found use of trans fats unchanged in recent surveys.

Under the New York proposal, restaurants would need to get artificial trans fats out of cooking oils, margarine and shortening by July 1, 2007, and all other foodstuffs by July 1, 2008. It would not affect grocery stores. It also would not apply to naturally occurring trans fats, which are found in some meats and dairy.

The Board of Health has yet to approve the proposal and will not do so until at least December, Frieden said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration began requiring food labels to list trans fats in January.

Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard University School of Public Health, praised New York health officials for considering a ban, which he said could save lives.

"Artificial trans fats are very toxic, and they almost surely cause tens of thousands of premature deaths each year," he said. "The federal government should have done this long ago."

[fallngempire]

And people in this country decided they know better than me what I should put into my body since...?

Face the facts people: Putting any law that mandates compliance in private health matters is both silly and doomed to fail.

This is why the war on drugs has been such a black hole for our tax dollars these many decades: Deciding what goes into your own body is bound to the very spirit of Americanism, and being told by the government that you can't put something in it, be it trans fats or marijuana, violates the basic rights we are supposed to have as free citizens of a democracy.

[k57]

Your comment is quite flippant.

Trans Fats are what's causing a MAJORITY of American's to suffer from obesity. In a supermarket you can READ the details of products and make an EDUCATED choice. However you can NOT in restaurants and fast food joints. You can try asking as WE DO but they often don't KNOW or are just refusing to tell you that they fried your fries in POISON.

If you read the whole article you would see that they were asked to cut back volunterily and that did not happen at all. They did NOTHING.

You may think it's great to sacrifice your health and body so that Mickey Dee can save a few cents on their fat bill but I would prefer they were FORCED to do the right thing as they would NEVER do it themselves.

[jasperrdm]

No transfats is not what causes obesity. It slugs like me not getting off the couch and exercising. And gee do what I say or I going to sick the cops on you. At least in the New York that will be the law for every mom and pop and mickey dees. At least Chicago is honest and corrupt enough to go after the big business aka fast food chains. Or are Chicago officals smart enough not to pick on local people. Are they afraid of a St Valentine cup cake revolution.

[djjswenson]

Spend time debating the issue of %u201Cbig brother is watching%u201D and you miss the motivation of the city health officials. Their desire is to help reduce the risk of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

Perhaps it is time to re-think what is %u201Cprudent and acceptable.%u201D Start by doing your own investigation on %u201Cartificial trans fatty acids%u201D then decide what is in your best interest. Although too much reality can be a real killjoy, it can be a real lifesaver as well.

Put a frog in a hot frying pan, and it will jump out. Put a frog in a frying pan and slowly raise the temperature, ...

[random_radar]

Hey, fallingempire, apparently from the replies, other people do think they know what is good for you and fell entitled to force you to do what they think is right. That is the essence of tyranny, and America is fully qualified nowadays. The tragedy is that it is not a top-down dictatorship, but rather a majority oppressions. Yes, rank and file citizens buy into the philosophy of forcing their neighbors to do what is "right."

A big problem with that philosophy is when what is supposed to be right is actually wrong. When mistakes are enforced by law, people get injured for a long time until there is overwhelming evidence to cause a change. Just one example pertinent to the argument at hand--everyone knows that the dietary guidelines the government started promoting in the 1970's has lead to an explosion in obesity in America. So much for omniscient government.

Even if we could be certain of what is right and good, I don't agree with forcing it on other people. The government with the power to right all you wrongs also has the power to wrong all your rights. All it takes is for ambitious, evil people to gain control of the levers of power and you will suffer. Hitler made the trains run on time, but Nazi Germany was worse than trans fats in my opinion.

[truwriter]

I am sure that if you want trans fat there will be a black market source, maybe even fat shows where you can buy transfats without government checking up on you. Transfats can be smuggled into NYC by the same people who bring in drugs and you can buy it from fat dealers on the streets of the poor neighborhoods and take it back to you suburban homes and eat it with a spoon. And then when you weight 400 pounds and have clogged arteries you can be sentenced to a rehab clinic on the public dollar and break your transfat habit...well until you get back out and its back to the street and transfats. Its an ugly cycle. Darned public health people! Jerry Springer will have to book other kinds of acts too. The whole world will fall apart if we the people allow public health gestopo types try to protect public health. Orwell was right when he said....can I have fries with that!

[fastdady]

I am soooo tired of big brother telling us what we can eat, drink, etc. It is MY body and I will eat what I want , when I want. And if i feel the urge to ask if its safe I might just do that! Un like some people , I do not want to live forever especially since this whole country is on the downward slide. Stay out of my business please Thank You

[wordland]

I`m so happy that America is starting
to take obesity seriously.
Outlawing an artificial hydrogenated oil
will be the first step to giving people
the leverage they need to lose pounds.
We are destroying everything we have worked
so hard to create when we allow truly
BAD food to enter our bodies.
GOOD JOB...NEwYork.....

[wordland]

Also for all the tyranny and it`s my body people
I`ll do what I want...
Well, In a modern nation we need laws
and rules. I`m sorry for all the people who love freedom. I do too! As we all do. but there is
RESPONSIBILTY as well...
Freedom AND responsibility by scientists
to inform the public and regulate truly BAD foods from entering your body.
We must protect the public...we
we have a responsibilty to do so.
Certainly we have laws which ban and or regulate all kinds of BAD foods anyway...just one of them is sacharin....it was found to cause cancer.
Remember responsibility and freedom.
We might be able to cut the serious obesity epidemic in this country....
I`m all for it .
Thank God for NEW YORK ...for finally STANDING UP!!!!!

[fastdady]

Wordlord, your point on scientists informing us is correct. However after they inform us it is still OUR CHOICE! What part of that do you not understand. first of all i have a real serious problem with health depts none of which are ELECTED officials making rules and laws that can get people fined. They have NO business doing that period and its time that people stood up and let them know. What next? they goin to be in my home telling me what I can and cant eat! It will be a cold day you know where before that happens you can be sure of that.

[cantshutup]

fallngempire got it right...all those in favor of having someone else think for you? WRONG!!!

[rudy654-2009]

Trans fat is good oil that was turned into something bad (partially hydrogenated fat) in order to sell taste and make the shelf life of food last longer. The selling of poison to an unsuspecting public has been all about money. How many people past and present have had to pay the price for this kind of corporate greed? I can't believe anyone could defend it.

[heartsong867]

Hey, remember Prohibition? A Constitutional amendment, no less! I can see it now...people traveling outside NYC to get their trans fats, clandestine eateries disguising what's in a can or bottle, BYO trans fats restaurants, where patrons bring their fat of choice for the chef to prepare a meal.

Then, let's make possession of trans fats inside the city limits a misdemeanor. Of course, the city will need 'fat' police to issue a summons. That will clog the courts just like trans fats....ah, poetic justice.

The governments have become 'caregivers'/'caretakers'. Since FDR, they have taken on responsibilities that used to be left to individuals and communities, creating a nation of dependent people, instead of independent ones. "Let us legislate, make laws and give us enough money and we can fix it!" Therein lies the problem... That was not the purpose of government, and now we have a mess... Life is about making choices..and it has been oft told, we reap what we sow.

[jasperrdm]

Psss anyone what to help ship special cooking oil to New York City. Only a Benjy for a pint.
We can't keep drugs out people bodies.
hmmm
I sitting here on the Group W. I said I here on the Group W bench. With father killers, mother killers, granny muggers, all of sitting on the Group W bench. And the meanest, badest, ugliest father mother mugger killer of them all sits right down beside me on the Group W Bench. He whispers "Psst kid. What are here for?"
And I sitting on the Group W bench look him the meanest badest uglies father mothr mugger killer of the all straight in the eye and said
"I ate two Big Macs in New York City"

and they all moved away from me on the Group W bench.

[aristotle11]

The big issue is "cost vs. benefit of switching to normal oil": same taste, (nearly) same cost. There is no benefit to trans fats.

The common, misguided objection is "We can't just force health foods on people." The reply is that there is some benefit to having some unhealthy fried foods, since replacing them with steamed foods is not nearly as tasty or fun. But trans fats don't make the fired food taste any different.

Imagine (hypothetically) there were cigarettes that tasted the same and cost the same but had far less harmful health effects as current cigarettes on the market. Why smoke the unhealthy cigarettes when there is a healthy alternative that tastes and costs the same? The only reason to smoke the unhealthy cigarettes is if the healthy ones were not available. Moreover, in this hypothetical, the gov%u2019t should force the cigarette companies to make the healthy cigarettes available.

The analogy is that the NYC restaurants do not make the healthy alternative available, and **no one** would eat the trans fat alternative if they had a choice (the McD%u2019s fries taste the same, go to Denmark and see). So really the restaurants are not giving us the (healthy) *choice* we should have, since they want to save some (very small) amount of money.

[jasperrdm]

Jasper stands up from the Group W bench. My dear Aristotle11 your last statement is in error. ...So really the restaurants are not giving us the (healthy) *choice* we should have, since they want to save some (very small) amount of money.....
You as consumer and customer of the restaurants can ask for healthy choices on the menu. Or ask the owner to change his oils. Or eat at home and take you own meals with you.
The small amount of money comment means you have forgotten the power of small numbers with large repeating frequency. Aka the worn out trivia of American Airlines removing one olive from its salads saving $75k a year. Or Mr Bo Jangles nickle and quarter dances.
Jasper sits down on the Group W bench. And wonders why he still posting here.

[aristotle11]

Jaspers, you are incorrect on 2 points.

1. LOW COST TO SWITCH: Your olive analogy (American Airlines removing one olive from each salad saving $75k a year) supports my position much better than your own. Using normal, healthy oil would cost each restaurant a few bucks. If one corporation owned all NYC restaurants, then switching from trans fat to normal oil would add up to millions for that one company. But the restaurants are owned by many different people, and so the cost is really a few bucks for each owner. The cost of switching is diluted among the many owners, and so it wouldn't be an excessive burden to any one of them. The better "olive analogy" is this: each person (i.e, the restaurants) must pay for an extra olive (i.e., the switch to healthy oil), and each olive costs each person very little.

2. MORE CHOICES: Less than 1 in 1000 NYC restaurants offer trans fat free fried food. I've asked around, and I cannot find any reasonably priced place in mid town Manhattan that offers it. If I want to buy fried food in mid town, I must eat trans fat. I don't have the choices I should have.

Why fry in poison when it costs and tastes the same to use normal oil? The gov't can't outlaw all unhealthy foods, though, since there is a great benefit to many unhealthy foods: they taste better!

PS- Read Upton Sinclair's *The Jungle* for why we can't trust the free market to solve all public health problems with the food industry.

[jasperrdm]

Ok you got me on the low cost. but the Jungle was published a century ago. I havenot read any thing from the Jungle since high school if not before.
The avg consumer is better educated and has more power today.
You make the choice to eat out. I got tired of some steak places near me using a mariande which contains MSG. Even though I ask what was in the mariande some wait staff did not know etc. So me and my wife quit dining in those places. Thankfully I only senstive to MSG. If I had been allegric I would have in hostipal a couple of times.
I bring my own lunch and rare eat out any more due menu choices.
And please you hurt your arguement when you call it poison. How about not good for you. Less heated and more accurate.

[aristotle11]

Fair enough, Jaspers. But this is why I call trans fat poison.

According to a Harvard Study in the NEJM, trans fats cause 100,000 excess heart disease deaths in the US each year.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/reviews/transfats.html

According to a Wake Forest Study, monkeys who ate trans fats were 30% fatter than monkeys who ate the same diet (same grams of fat, number of calories, etc.) with normal oil. The trans fat monkeys also developed diabetes. Other studies have shown that trans fats increase the bad LDL cholesterol while decreasing the good HDL cholesterol, and that the combined effect on the ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol is double that of saturated fats.
http://www1.wfubmc.edu/News/NewsARticle.htm?ArticleID=1869

The journal Nature reported preliminary evidence of trans fat%u2019s causing brain damage (damage that does not occur with an equivalent diet of 12% normal oil).
http://www.bioedonline.org/news/news.cfm?art=1320

Sounds like poison to me.