On December 5th, the New York City Board of Public Health dealt out the nation’s first major ban on artificial trans fats for use in restaurant cooking.  Artificial trans fats (sometimes better known as “partially-hydrogenated” fats) have been gaining in scientific and public disdain as they are incontrovertibly linked as a major factor in heart disease.

Trans fats are known to raise LDL (or “bad cholesterol”) levels more so than any single ingredient. You may have seen products in the grocery store heralding their total lack of trans fats,  but it is a fairly recent move on behalf of the food industry to begin to limit their use of it. Perhaps in response to the growing American obesity epidemic, major chains of famously oily restaurants – most notably KFC and McDonalds, started abandoning use of frying oils containing the fats in early 2006.

Restaurants widely oppose than ban, as trans fat-laden cooking oils is a more economical choice because of its generally lower price and much longer shelf life. The economic impact of such a law can mean as much of a $20 million hit for New York’s restaurant industry, but government officials see it as the only to popularize the move on a mass scale.

Given the wide publicity the move has been given, public health groups nationwide are expected to push for the move in many of the major metropolitan areas of the United States. A nationwide movement could ease the transition, but could prove to take a sizable chunk of profits from companies in those sectors.

UPDATE: The Cleveland City council passed a resolution last week that encourages a Trans Fat ban. The ban is not yet a law, but more of a nudge to city restaurant owners.

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