New York City has decid­ed to pro­hib­it restau­rants from using trans fats in their menu items. Oth­er cities can be expect­ed to fol­low suit, caus­ing a major change in the way that restau­rants use cer­tain ingre­di­ents for cook­ing and fry­ing. As of July 2007, most cook­ing oils with arti­fi­cial trans fats no longer can be used in New York City restau­rants. All ingre­di­ents with arti­fi­cial trans fats must be elim­i­nat­ed by July 2008.

Trans fats form when oils are hydro­genat­ed to make them sol­id at room tem­per­a­ture. Hydro­genat­ed or par­tial­ly hydro­genat­ed oil was com­mon­ly used for fry­ing, in com­mer­cial­ly baked foods like cook­ies, cakes, and crack­ers, and in mix­es for muffins and oth­er baked goods. What can you do?

  • Check the labels of all cook­ing oils for par­tial­ly hydro­genat­ed fats. Ask your dis­trib­u­tor to sug­gest com­pa­ra­ble trans fat-free oils.
  • Vis­it www.frytest.com for inde­pen­dent eval­u­a­tions of trans fat-free cook­ing oils.
  • Review the ingre­di­ent list and Nutri­tion Facts pan­el of all baked goods, mix­es, and com­mer­cial­ly pre­pared foods. Seek out alter­na­tives.
  • Con­tact Mindy Her­mann for a com­put­er­ized nutri­tion analy­sis of your recipes, includ­ing trans fat and key nutri­ents.