Lawmakers attempt to rid restaurants of trans fats
April 7, 2009
Sen. Eliot Shapleigh of El Paso and Rep. Carol Alvarado of Houston, both Democrats, are pressing for legislation that would phase in bans of trans fats in restaurant foods -- a move they said would help fight obesity and reduce health insurance costs associated with it. It would place Texas alongside the state of California and New York City in banning the potentially hazardous fats.
Written by Kelley Shannon, The Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas -- Texans who love cheesy enchiladas and chicken-fried steak, take heart.
Lawmakers who want to ban trans fats in Texas restaurants say there's no need to worry about losing any flavor in favorite foods if healthy oils and ingredients are used instead.
Sen. Eliot Shapleigh of El Paso and Rep. Carol Alvarado of Houston, both Democrats, are pressing for legislation that would phase in bans of trans fats in restaurant foods -- a move they said would help fight obesity and reduce health insurance costs associated with it. It would place Texas alongside the state of California and New York City in banning the potentially hazardous fats.
"What it will do is cause restaurants and others to use healthier substances and cooking products to make healthier Texans," Shapleigh said in a Capitol news conference Monday. "You see 200-pound fifth-graders, you know we've got to do something about it."
Trans fats typically are found in certain types of cooking oils and can increase artery-clogging LDL cholesterol while decreasing the good type of cholesterol known as HDL. The American Medical Association, the nation's largest physicians' group, has said it supports state and federal attempts to ban the use of artificial trans fats in restaurants and bakeries.
The powerful Texas Restaurant Association signed on to support the legislation, and that will undoubtedly give it a boost in the Legislature.
Many of the group's 5,000 members are moving to get rid of trans fats anyway, said association general counsel Glen Garey.
He said the association likes that the proposed legislation contains phase-in time for the law to take effect. Chain restaurants with 15 or more stores would have to comply by September 2010, and smaller restaurants with fewer than 15 locations would have until September 2011.
Though the cost was more of a concern at one time, healthier cooking products that don't contain trans fat are now more readily available because so many restaurants and governments are advocating the switch, Garey said.
On its Web site, the Texas Restaurant Association sums up the issue this way: "Due to the health concerns with trans fats, food industry suppliers have been moving to alternative oils and product formulations to eliminate trans fats."
The proposed legislation would ban the use of artificial trans fats in restaurant cooking and require that all prepared foods served in original packages have a label indicating the food has less than .5 grams of trans fat per serving.
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