Best of the Buzz : Health Watch

LA Chefs React to Cali Trans Fats Ban

BuzzEditor — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 04:03:00 GMT

The stories in Saturday’s papers were given upper-right-hand placement, normally the bastion of Serious News, Major Events. The headline atop The New York Times was "California Bars Restaurant Use of Trans Fats: The First State to Act." The Los Angeles Times gave more detail: "State Bans Trans Fats: Restaurants in California Must Stop Cooking with the Substances, Except in Tiny Amounts, by 2010."

The day before, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had signed a bill banning margarine and any other oils or shortening containing the dreaded trans fats, which have been found to increase bad cholesterol, which in turn can lead to heart disease. Starting in 2010, California restaurants that use those substances will be fined anywhere from $25–$1,000. Anyone who misses ingesting trans fats will be able to find them at their local market in what's referred to as "manufacturer-sealed packaging."

While cities like Philadelphia and NYC have banned trans fats, California is the first state to do so. It sounds like an earth-shaking development, a major sea change in the way 36 million people eat. But they’ve already been banned in public school lunches, and chains like McDonald's, Wendy's, KFC, Taco Bell and Cheesecake Factory have already phased them out. Back in 2006, Loews Santa Monica Beach announced it was going trans fat–free. The chef at the time, Gregg Wangard, said that as far as he was concerned, no one would notice the difference – non–trans fat substitutes are abundant, and work just fine.

Indeed, the general consensus among LA chefs that The Buzz talked to was a big yawn – none of them had been using trans fats anyway – even if they were glad about the new law for the greater good.

Wolfgang Puck (Cut, Spago, etc.) and Michael Franks (Chez Mélange) say they have never used trans fats in their restaurants. Neither has Akasha Richmond, chef-owner of Akasha in Culver City: "We have never used anything with trans fats, so it isn’t even an issue with us. Nothing uses trans fats, not even our fryer oil. We use non-hydrogenated palm shortening, for example, and we use trans fat–free canola oil. Nothing we buy has trans fat."

Agostino Sciandri, who has Ago outposts in Los Angeles, Miami, Las Vegas and New York, says the issue is particularly minor for Italian restaurants. "Italian cooking uses no trans anything," he said. "We use vegetable oil. We use olive oil."

Others wondered how the trans fat ban will affect the bottom line. "I’m happy that California is banning trans fats because trans fats are simply not good for you," says Glen Ishii, executive chef at Noé. "Trans fat is a synthetic product, not a natural one, and it’s hard for your body to break down. People like using trans fats because they are more economic to use. Even though the information about the negative effects of trans fats didn’t come out until recently, I stopped using trans fats a long time ago. For frying oil, macadamia nut oil is my favorite, but it’s just not cost effective to use in the restaurant. Palm oil is great too, but it’s also expensive. I usually use a trans fat–free vegetable oil blend."

Richard Drapkin, co-owner of Grace, bld and The Brentwood says: "For restaurants like ours, it's not a problem, for trans fats aren't among our ingredients. But for less expensive restaurants, there will be a jump in costs. One of the reasons restaurants use trans fat oils is that they're inexpensive."

But for Ron Salisbury, owner of El Cholo, giving up trans fats a few years ago didn’t present a problem “It was the right thing to do. It was easy to change our cooking to make it work. What I'm concerned about is the amount of salt in food. As important as it is to cut trans fats, it may be even more important to cut salt. I see that as the next big wave."

Though the last word goes to the always-irreverent Eric Greenspan of The Foundry on Melrose: "As long as they don't ban olive oil or butter we'll be fine. And duck fat. And schmaltz."

-Merrill Shindler

Calorie Counts Coming to City Fast Food Spots

BuzzEditor — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:23:00 GMT

The New York City Department of Health has made another move to force fast food purveyors to provide honest health information up front.

After an earlier set of rules was struck down by a federal judge, the DoH regrouped and yesterday passed new provisions that require any chain operating at least 15 outlets nationwide to put calorie counts on menus and anywhere else customers might pick their food from.

These new regulations are being put in place to help combat the ongoing obesity epidemic. As the notice of adoption (PDF) points out, in "New York City, obesity prevalence has increased by more than 70% in the past decade. More than half (54%) of New York City adults are overweight or obese, and 1 in every 5 adults is obese; 43% of elementary school children are overweight or obese."

The DoH argues that the fight against fat needs to fall squarely on establishments as even trained professionals often have trouble estimating caloric content. A recent poll found that only 11% of adults could correctly identify which of the four breakfast choices from Denny’s Restaurants had the fewest calories and which of the four menu items from McDonald’s had the most calories.

Of course, many restaurants aren't happy about the new rules (about 10% of the city's restaurants will be affected). Displaying nutritional information may be embarrassing for some chains (Burger King, for instance, may not like explaining why their cheeseburger has only 330 calories while the Whopper Junior with cheese has 410 calories and the Triple Whopper with cheese has 1,230). The DoH is hoping that rather than risk humiliation, many chains will retool or even drop menu items.

Though it is unlikely that this fight is over, assuming the new provisions aren't challenged again by a group like the New York State Restaurant Association, which sued the last time, they are set to go into effect March 31.

Don't Just Eat Locally, Eat Sensibly

BuzzEditor — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:47:00 GMT

How do you conserve food miles?

Let us know on the Zagat Discussion boards!

“Food miles” (the distance that your food has traveled before consumption) has become a hot topic as the threat of global warming has loomed larger. But is this the right thing to focus on? New research in now emerging arguing that while food miles can be worth noting, they miss the whole story. An op-ed in the New York Times by James E. McWilliams brings this to light thanks to a study from Lincoln University in New Zealand: Instead of just counting the miles from production to your plate, the researchers counted everything they could put a number to, and got some surprising results:

Most notably, they found that lamb raised on New Zealand’s clover-choked pastures and shipped 11,000 miles by boat to Britain produced 1,520 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per ton while British lamb produced 6,280 pounds of carbon dioxide per ton, in part because poorer British pastures force farmers to use feed. In other words, it is four times more energy-efficient for Londoners to buy lamb imported from the other side of the world than to buy it from a producer in their backyard. Similar figures were found for dairy products and fruit.

So maybe the key isn’t necessarily only eating locally, but eating carefully and asking the right questions about how the food was produced. Nobody ever said eating environmentally would be easy!

83% of NYC Restaurants Now Using Trans-Fat-Free Frying Oils

BuzzEditor — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:03:00 GMT

More than 80 percent of NYC restaurants have switched to trans-fat-free frying oils, according to a recent Health Department survey. As of July 1st, city eateries – from fast-food joints to temples of haute cuisine – can no longer use partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, shortenings or margarines for frying and spreading if they contain more than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. The ban will extend to baked goods and prepared foods starting July 1st, 2008.

In a statement, NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas R. Frieden said the results of the study "confirms that the switch is feasible." The city has set up a Trans Fat Help Center to assist restaurants with the transition; for more information, visit www.notransfatnyc.org.

See the Department of Health Press Release

Health Watch: High Caloric Edition

BuzzEditor — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:09:00 GMT

From smoking to obesity to rat-riddled dining rooms, the public is increasingly concerned not only with what it eats, but the conditions in which they eat it. Here are some of the latest health-related restaurant headlines:

New York City Delays Calorie Listing Rule for Restaurants

Starwood to Eliminate Trans Fats

Trimming the Trans Fat: Now that Brookline has voted to ban trans fats from its eateries, restaurants are in a frenzy to find a tasty alternative

No License to Overindulge: What replaces those trans fats may be almost as bad for you

Some Restaurants Scaling Back Monster Portions