Wednesday, 6 December 2006

Every restaurant in New York using trans fats in its food will have to find an alternative: the city's Board of Health voted unanimously this week to ban trans fats in all of the city's eateries, a first in the US.

Restaurants have until July to stop using artificial trans fats in frying oils and until the following July to eliminate trans fats from all foods. The ban does include exceptions including one allowing restaurants to serve foods containing trans fats if those foods remain in the manufacturer's packaging.

Artificial trans fats are thought by health professionals to be a leading cause of heart disease. The ban was advocated by New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, and have thrust the city into the forefront of efforts to reduce the consumption of artificial trans fats, the chemically modified ingredients that were once considered a benign alternative to saturated fats in butter. Some fast-food chains moved away from trans fat on their own accord when the US Food and Drug Administration implemented a requirement that companies list trans fat content on food product labels. In August Wendy's started using a zero-trans fat oil and KFC and Taco Bell have also committed to eliminate trans fats.