The food service industry in Westchester County last week came under the county”™s ban on trans-fats enacted early this year.
Starting last Thursday, restaurants, cafés and school cafeterias were required to sauté or fry foods in oils that do not contain trans-fats or risk a citation and fine from the county Board of Health. Natural vegetable oils such as olive, canola, peanut, corn, soybean, safflower and sunflower oils, all high in unsaturated fats, can be used instead.
Though the ban was adopted as part of the county”™s sanitary code on Jan. 9, the county Health Department granted a 90-day grace period for businesses and schools to make the change. During that time, nearly 1,000 eateries were found to have made the switch to cooking with healthier oils that contain no trans-fats, according to county health officials
Health Department inspectors check for trans-fat oils when inspecting restaurants and other licensed food service establishments. Those still using trans-fat oils can be fined up to $1,000.
“No one will miss trans-fats, and your body will thank you for not consuming them,”™”™ said Westchester County Commissioner of Health Dr. Joshua Lipsman. “They are to food what leaded gasoline was to cars: unnecessary and harmful. Trans-fats contribute to coronary heart disease and stroke.”™”™
In April 2006, restaurant owners were invited by Lipsman to switch voluntarily to monounsaturated and polyunsaturated cooking oils and be listed as part of the Be Fit Westchester program on the county”™s Web site. About 665 food establishments of 3,000 licensed in the county participated, county health officials said. To increase participation, the Board of Health decided to enact the trans-fats ban.
The ban was opposed by the New York State Restaurant Association, which also has gone to court to fight a similar ban in New York City. Officers of the trade group”™s Westchester-Rockland chapter had said the voluntary program was working here and the market rather than government regulation should push restaurant owners to eliminate trans-fats from their kitchens.
