No smoking, no noise, now no trans fats - New York City is continuing its journey toward health.The Big Apple is making good on its pledge to ban trans fat cooking oils in all its restaurants. The concept, which initially met with a brand of skepticism worthy of a Republican’s stance on global warming, is proceeding smoothly. Most of Gotham’s fast fooderies claim to have made the switch prior to the July 1 deadline.
Conversely, another second restaurant rule isn’t going so well: that of the posting of calories on fast-food menus. That regulation is meeting with defiance from the major fast food suspects, who hope a lawsuit will overturn it. Fines will not be levied against violators of either rule until October 1.
The jettisoning of trans fats is being widely seen as a coup by health-conscious New Yorkers. Trans fats, found in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, are the culprits behind clogged arteries and heart disease. Yet they are cheap and enjoy a longer shelf life, keys to the food industry’s unwillingness to dispense with them.
That all began to change last winter, when cooking oil companies started production of trans fat alternatives, and restaurant supply concerns followed suit by stocking kitchens with replacement products.
Big fast food chains that relied heavily on the old oils, from Burger King to Carl's Jr. to Kentucky Fried Chicken, announced they would eliminate the stuff from their fryers nationwide.
I am personally curious as to how KFC has managed to retain the “same great taste” of its fried chicken sans trans fats. Wasn’t their product pretty much just chicken pieces slathered in seasoned lard? If I can work up the guts to try the new stuff, I will post a report here.
McDonald's, which had demonstrated marked anguish over the impact trans fat removal would have on its cherished fries, said the use of new oils in thousands of its restaurants has been a non-issue among its customer base.
“The transition has been absolutely seamless,” said spokesman Walt Riker.
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