If you like your fries cooked in trans fat you better not move to New York. The Board of Health voted today to make New York the nation's first city to ban artery-clogging artificial trans fats at restaurants.
The ban was passed unanimously and gave restaurants a small break by relaxing the deadline for complete compliance to July 2008. They will be barred from using most frying oils containing artificial trans fats by July. All trans fats used in all their foods will need to be compliant by the 2008 deadline.
Dan Fleshler, a spokesman for the National Restaurant Association, was quoted in this MSNBC.com article as saying, “We don’t think that a municipal health agency has any business banning a product the Food and Drug Administration has already approved.”
McDonald's (MCD), Wendy's (WEN), and Taco Bell have been experimenting and introducing zero-trans fat oil, trying to find a substitute that is still tasty. KFC announced in October that they were ceasing to use trans fat in their restaurants.
Chicago is considering its own trans fat law, not banning them but restricting the amount kitchens can use. The law wouldn't apply to small restaurants, only those making more than $20 million in sales per year.
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