Assemblyman hopes for trans fat transformation

Diana Correa just can't quit doughnuts cold turkey. She used to visit Marie's DO-Nut Shop in Sacramento five days a week before she realized she needed to lose weight and eat better.

Now she and her grandson are “trying to go organic.” But they’re finding that it's not that easy.

“They miss me here,” Correa, 62, said as she held a dozen doughnut holes in an unassuming white paper bag. Although she's well aware of the dangers of trans fats – and the fact that doughnuts are a prime source of them – she splurges occasionally.

“I stay away from trans fats,” she said. “But they taste so good! You gotta have one once in a while.”

Correa's personal choice to limit her trans fat intake could be compared to the national trend away from the fat, which has been condemned by the American Heart Association and the FDA.

California may soon join the campaign against trans fats, but on a much larger scale. Assembly Bill 97, which would reduce the use of artificial trans fats to less than 0.5 grams in California restaurants beginning in July 2009 and baked goods in July 2010, has passed the Assembly and is currently awaiting debate in the Senate. It would also require that restaurants have labels available for any food containing fat, in case consumers want to be sure what they're eating is trans-fat-free.

The bill would still allow pre-packaged foods containing trans fats to be sold in California.

If passed, AB 97, authored by Assemblyman Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia, would be the first statewide trans fat ban in the country. Similar bans have already gone into effect in New York City and Philadelphia. A ban in Boston was passed Monday.

Artificial trans fats, according to the American Heart Association, are industrially processed vegetable oils that have been heated to make them solidify. They can increase the shelf life of products and they give food a “buttery” flavor without using actual butter, which is much pricier.

Although trans fats are in a partially hydrogenated or semi-liquid state when used in cooking, once consumed, they can solidify in the arteries, which can cause blockage, heart attacks, or strokes, experts say.

The American Heart Association recommends no more than 2 to 2.5 grams of trans fat each day, which is roughly 1 percent of a person’s total calorie intake for a 2,000 Calorie a day diet.

According to BanTransFats.com, Inc., a California-based non-profit group dedicated to eliminating trans fats nationwide, a medium order of McDonald’s french fries can contain as much as 8 grams of trans fats, nearly four times the recommended daily amount. When consumed on a regular basis and in large quantities, trans fats can lead to an increase in LDL, or bad, cholesterol levels.

Mendoza, who was originally a teacher, first became interested in the issue after he noticed several children in his elementary school class had diabetes, said Mercedes Flores, Mendoza’s legislative director. After researching diabetes, he realized that a poor diet and too much trans fat can increase the risk of developing the disease. He felt compelled to take action.

Adam Francis, legislative assistant for the California Academy of Family Physicians, said everyone could benefit from eating fewer trans fats.

“By reducing things like trans fats we can reduce incidences of childhood obesity and heart disease,” he said in a phone interview.

Because individual cities and counties in California are prohibited from bans like this, Mendoza took the effort statewide.

Justin Malan is executive director for the California Conference of Directors of Environmental Health, which oversees consumer health issues like hazardous waste, drinking water and waste water. The group also employs about 1,000 restaurant inspectors in California. He said the inspectors are responsible for making sure food is safe, and that unhealthy food can be unsafe in the same way that an undercooked steak can be.

“We’ve come to realize that diet is a very very important public health issue,” he said in a phone interview. He said the inspectors would be the main enforcers of the bill. “Because inspectors are in the restaurants quite regularly checking on food safety, its not a big burden on them to make sure food is labeled correctly.”

But although AB 97 might be a step in the right direction for consumers' health, it could also have a strong impact on small restaurants and bakeries, which would be forced to find substitutes for their frying oils and shortening – essential parts of the cooking process for both types of businesses.

Walter Goetzeler, owner of Freeport Bakery in Sacramento, wonders if an increase in demand for substitute oils will raise prices, but he said it's hard to even make a guess, since all of his supplies have been going up in price recently.

The California Grocer's Association shares this concern.

“What we feel is that it will be difficult for grocery retailers to comply because of the lack of adequate availability of alternative oils,” said Dave Heylen, spokesman for the California Grocer’s Association.

The group believes that it is necessary to wait until farmers have been given adequate time to produce the crops that are necessary to create alternatives like palm or cottonseed oils.

“Our feeling is we should wait and bring in more experts and then study the issue more clearly so that we can be better prepared,” Heylen said. “As these alternatives come online and are available in quantity, then you can tend to make the shift and it would be an effective shift that we think would be a win-win for everyone involved.”

Flores said this argument “does not hold water.”

“We've since (these arguments surfaced) talked to some manufacturers and they said, 'Not a problem. If trans fats are banned, we could switch over within 30 days,' ” she said in a phone interview.

But some question whether it's the government's place to be regulating what people eat.

“We all feel a little bit stepped on our toes by the government telling us what not to use,” Goetzeler said, his German accent showing through.

Goetzeler moved to the United States from Germany in 1982, where smoking in restaurants was banned in 2006. A similar ban has been in effect in California for more than 10 years. He wonders if he would be facing trans fat restrictions at all if he were still living in Germany, since the country was so far behind California in adopting the smoking ban.

Many consumers, like Jeannie Dawkins, 44, share Goetzeler’s concern.

“We still need to have a choice,” she said as she finished a jelly doughnut at Yum Yum Donut Shop in Sacramento. “I don't want people's choices taken from them.”

Dawkins doesn't eat doughnuts very often, so she isn't too concerned about the health risks of trans fats.

“We know it ain't too healthy, but you only live once,” she said.

Goetzeler, who has been asked by customers whether certain items contain the controversial fat, knows that trans fats are continuing to become a national concern.

“For some people it’s just because it’s in the papers, so it’s a concern,” Goetzeler said. “Some people don’t give a hoot.”

For many food producers, however, it has been an issue for some time. In 2003, BanTransFats.com sued Kraft for their use of trans fats in Oreos.

BanTransFats.com withdrew the lawsuit after Kraft conceded to their request to begin eliminating trans fats, and many other companies like Taco Bell, KFC, and Starbucks voluntarily followed suit.

After 200 trials and more than 100,000 hours invested in researching an alternative, Oreos now contains only 1 gram of “unidentified fat” thereby making it trans-fat free according to a 2007 Kraft Foods, Inc. press release.

Some small businesses worry they might have to go through a long series of trials and tests like this, wasting time and money.

“It can only be the government’s place (to ban trans fats) if they can create an alternative that won’t break the bank of small businesses,” said Dennis Finn, an employee of Baker Ben’s Donuts in Sacramento. Finn is one of only two people who work in the shop.