Bill would ban trans fats in restaurants, bakeries

PROVIDENCE - Following New York City's lead, Rhode Island lawmakers are considering a ban on artificial trans fats in restaurants statewide.

The fats come from partially hydrogenated oil, a key ingredient in making frostings fluffy and pie crusts flaky. The oil's unique chemical structure resists breaking down, so products containing the oil have a longer shelf life, and restaurants can use the same oil over and over for deep frying.

But that same chemical structure makes the oil exceedingly bad for us, scientists say. Artificial trans fats increase low-density lipoprotein, commonly known as bad cholesterol. So do saturated fats, such as those found in meat and dairy products - but unlike saturated fats, trans fats also lower high-density lipoprotein, or good cholesterol.

Bad cholesterol collects on cell walls and is the principal cause of coronary heart disease; good cholesterol helps to scrub cell walls clean of bad cholesterol. So trans fats carry a "double whammy" of risk, says Jeff Cronin, spokesman for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based group that lobbied for listing of trans-fat content on food labels, and advocates government bans on trans fats.

That's why state Rep. Joseph M. McNamara, D-Warwick, decided to act now instead of waiting to observe the measure's effects on the New York restaurant industry. The city's Board of Health only approved the ban last month, and it takes effect in two phases, the first this July and the second a year later. No state has yet enacted such a ban, although Massachusetts and Connecticut are also considering it.

Danish scientists reported that heart disease deaths have dropped 20 percent since that country banned trans fats in 2003. McNamara said it was this statistic that spurred him to act quickly. "My major objective is to reduce heart disease in this state," he said.

"Generally speaking, the science behind the harmful effect of trans fats is stronger than for any other potentially harmful nutrient in the food supply," said Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health specializing in the effects of fatty acids on heart disease.

Opponents of banning partially hydrogenated oils often point out that the restaurant industry first started using the oils in response to public objections to frying foods in animal fat. But subsequent studies indicate that trans fats actually pose a greater health risk than saturated fats. The increased heart-disease risk begins at a low intake level - about 5 grams a day, or the equivalent of 40 calories, Mozaffarian said.

"If we can take something out of the food supply that has the potential for significant harm, than we should be doing it," he said.

Helen Drew, associate director of the Rhode Island Department of Health, also praised McNamara's bill, noting that heart disease is the leading cause of death in Rhode Island.

The bill would apply to all food businesses - anyplace food is "held, processed, manufactured, packaged, prepared, displayed, served, transported, or sold." However, it would not apply to food "served directly to patrons in a manufacturer's original sealed package." So it would apply to grocery stores, bakeries and delis as well as full-service restaurants, but only to certain products. For instance, it would apply to a cookies baked on-site at a grocery store and sold in the bakery section, but not to a package of Oreos in the cookie aisle.

Nancy Starziano, general manager at Eastside Marketplace in Providence, said passage of the bill, as written, would require big changes in her store's bakery and deli.

Starziano said the store uses butter or olive oil - neither of which has trans fats - in cakes and other items made from scratch. But the store bakes its muffins from a mix, and buys pies fully assembled for baking at the store. Starziano said she thinks both products contain trans fats.

Starziano, a former restaurant chef, said she thinks the bill is "a little extreme," given that the store makes lists of ingredients for every item available to customers. "I think individuals should be able to decide for themselves what they want to eat," she said.

Robert I. Burke, owner of Pot au Feu and Federal Reserve restaurants in Providence, stopped using frying oil containing trans fats two years ago. "It was not a decision that we took lightly," he said. "It was of concern to us because our pommes frites" - the French term for French fries - "have been specifically noted and honored in various publications. … Of course, in a French restaurant, one must have pommes frites."

Burke was able to find trans-fat-free oil that produced comparable taste and texture. The restaurants prepare all their dishes, from bread to desserts, on-site using fresh ingredients, so they can monitor what type of fats go into them. None of it is partially hydrogenated, Burke said. "We have a bias against foods that have been somehow manipulated," he said.

Burke wishes other restaurants would make the same choice, but stops short of endorsing legislation to force them. He has less sympathy for a trans-fat ban than he did for the smoking ban in restaurants the state enacted three years ago. "If I sit here and eat a hot fudge sundae, the person at the next table doesn't get fat," he said.

McNamara's bill uses the same timetable as the New York law, banning oils, shortening and margarines containing artificial trans fats starting July 1, and extending to all foods containing the fats one year later. For example, restaurants would have to stop placing margarine packets on tables starting this July, but could keep serving muffins containing trans fats until next July. The bill would not apply to foods with a trans-fat content below half a gram per serving.

Dale Venturini, president of the Hospitality and Tourism Association, said she is surveying her members to find out where they stand.

McNamara said he is open to amending the bill. "I plan on working very, very closely with the restaurant industry," he said.