NYC to Launch Ban on Trans Fat — First American City to Adopt Stringent Rules on Artery-Clogger

By David B Caruso

NEW YORK – Making cannoli is serious business in New York. It’s a dessert so tempting that even a hit man in the “Godfather” couldn’t leave a box behind.

But even the most respected chefs of this and other pastries are being ordered to make changes by Tuesday – the day New York’s trans fat ban takes full effect.

New York is the first American city to adopt such a stringent rule.

Starting this week, the ban extends to almost all prepared food in restaurants, bakeries, cafeterias, salad bars and food carts. There will be a three-month grace period before big fines are slapped on violators. The artery-clogging substance was first banned from cooking oils last year.

Chefs who relied on trans fats to make their pie crusts flaky, their crackers crispy and their muffins moist have worked overtime finding substitute ingredients. They have burned through hundreds of gallons of oil, shortening and margarine trying to retool old recipes without damaging flavor, texture or color.

Yet, with the deadline looming, it appears that few, if any foods, are getting whacked.

Fast food giants from McDonald’s to Taco Bell say they have banished trans fats without having to drop a single item from their menu.

Baking supply companies have introduced a host of replacements for the partially hydrogenated vegetable oils that are the biggest source of trans fats. Not even Crisco is made of Crisco anymore. The company reformulated all of its products last year to have “zero grams of trans fat per serving.”

Even the cannoli has been spared.

New York’s biggest maker of fried dough shells for the classic Italian dessert reports that after four months of sometimes frustrating experimentation, cooks finally produced a trans-fat- free replacement that is just as crisp and delicious as the original.

“There is a little difference in taste,” acknowledged Mauricio Vasquez, general manager of Ariola Foods, which has been turning out pastries in Queens for 85 years. But, he added, “If you weren’t familiar with the shell beforehand, you’d never know the difference.”

City health commissioner Thomas Frieden, who launched the anti- trans fat initiative, said it is too early to tell what percentage of the city’s restaurants will fully comply by Tuesday. But he said his department had heard relatively few complaints so far from frustrated chefs.

“We think it is going extremely well,” he said.

On the Web

NYC Trans Fat Help Center: notransfatnyc.org/

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Fast food chains

Fast food restaurants have been changing their recipes to adapt to New York City’s trans fat ban. Here are some of the menu overhauls at major chains:

Dunkin Donuts: Quit using partially hydrogenated oil months ago in favor of a trans-fat-free blend of palm, soybean and cottonseed oil.

Kentucky Fried Chicken: Ditched trans fats from cooking oil immediately, recently removed it from its pot pie and biscuits.

Pizza Hut: Removed trans fat from the one style of pizza that had it.

McDonald’s: Stopped cooking fries in trans fat last year, and now has it out of cookies and baked apple pie too, at least in New York. The rest of the country will follow.

Burger King: New York locations no longer use trans fat in fries, apple pie or biscuits, with plans to eliminate them nationwide.

Boston Market: Testing a trans-fat-free version of its chicken pot pie and cornbread in New York. If all goes well, the recipe change will be expanded nationwide.

– Associated Press

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Originally published by David B. Caruso Associated Press .

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