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NYC moving to eliminate trans fats at restaurants

Monday, October 30, 2006

(New York-WABC, Oct. 30, 2006) (WABC) -- Eating out in New York City is about to get a lot healthier. Whether New Yorkers like it, or not. The city is moving ahead with plans to eliminate trans fats from all restaurants.

Eyewitness News reporter Ken Rosato is live in Lower Manhattan.

New York City restaurant also have to change the way they fry up some of our favorite foods.

The city is going to war against trans fat, the artery clogging, partially hydrogenated oil. The reusable fat is used for cooking up chicken and french fries and giving baked goods like cookies and cupcakes a longer shelf life. But the oil's also making us heavier and more prone to heart disease.

Jenn Breckenridge, Trans Fat Free NYC: "Cholesterol wise, it increases the bad cholesterol which is "HDL" and lowers the good cholesterol, which is "LDL". So, it has a double negative affect on your heart."

A restaurant in the Bronx says chefs have already voluntarily decided to use healthier cooking oils to keep their customers coming back.

Wendys, the food chain, has already switched to a zero trans fat oil. KFC did the same thing last week.

The new law would make it mandatory for restaurants to stop using the unhealthy oils.

The FDA estimates that the average American eats five pounds, two plates of this stuff every year.

New Yorker: "The trans fat is not good for you, so someone says. Put it on the menu, make that a choice for me. Let me decide whether or not I want to eat that particular food. That's all."

KFC, Kentucky Fried Chicken, apparently already stopped using tran fats to fry their foods last week. In a news conference this morning the said they will start using zero trans fat soybean oil systemwide with the rollout expected to be completed by April 2007.

Also a little bit later, The Board of Health will meet to discuss this new law.

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