I laud the move towards health! But--I wonder what this will do to the kosher restaurants and/or bakeries in the city? They really can't use butter, so they user margarine and shortening--so this ban is going to be a real challenge to them (though I'm looking forward to trans-fat free kosher food).

Reply

Hooray for State control over what we are allowed to eat!
Not.

Reply

This is great news! Thankfully SOMEONE is taking a stand against these incredibly harmful substances. Hopefully more cities will follow NYC's lead.

Reply

So how long until fried foods, themselves, are outlawed? Hello Nanny State!

Reply

Alright, what's up with the nanny state thing?

I have heard and seen a ton of people using that phrase lately.

This is a great move and I think in a few years, one that we will see nationwide. At least hopefully. A lot of people think this is intrudes on their rights, but I disagree. Mainly because, it is health officials jobs to keep harmful chemicals out of our bodies. These trans fats are just that. You know they have to be bad if fast-food restaurants are voluntarily removing them from their foods.

Also, to anyone angry about this, you can still have you fries and your burgers and your pizza and whatever else you want. You won't even notice the difference.

The ban is actually only on artificial trans fats. Trans fat occurs naturally in animal fat, but is a much more dangerous in hydrogenated oils that are 100 percent trans fat.

Reply

Trans fats are regulated, along with how much rat poop can go in your food. I fail to see the problem with either one.

"But trans fats are edible!"

So is rat poop. That's why the amount is regulated or capped, not set at Zero.

Reply

What business is it of the government's to tell us how and what to eat? I'm all for healthful foods, but I don't need some bureaucrat making decisions for me. That goes for every other aspect of my life, too.

Keep your laws off my refrigerator!

Reply

Fuck NYC and their draconian regulations. I have a brain, I can read - ergo, I don't need a Board of Health telling me what I should, and shouldn't, eat.

Alcohol is bad for you beyond moderation, too. That doesn't mean that prohibition is a good idea. Wait, we tried that, didn't we??

"Dare to be stupid"
--Weird Al Yankovic

Reply

"What business is it of the government's to tell us how and what to eat? I'm all for healthful foods, but I don't need some bureaucrat making decisions for me. That goes for every other aspect of my life, too.

Keep your laws off my refrigerator!"

You, sir, are an idiot.

First of all, the government has been "telling people what to eat" for over a century. That's why there are laws about meat inspection, and food safety in general. Trans-fats are not safe to eat, so now they're being banned. Just like spoiled meat isn't safe to eat, so it's banned.

Second, these laws don't affect your refrigerator. They're public health laws; you can do whatever you want. So now restaurants can't serve people spoiled meat. If you want spoiled meat, you can eat it at home, and the government can't stop you. It is the government's job to ensure the public health, and one way they do that is by telling people what is and is not safe to eat.

Reply

"It's going to cost these restaurants something to make the switch, and if nothing else, print up new menus. I think people will notice the difference when their pizza and fries suddenly cost twice as much."

The non-hydrogenated oils only cost pennies more on the dollar. No one will be printing a new menu. They will be serving the exact same food. It is very doubtful that you will see any price change at all.

Get your facts straight. Pizza won't be affected by the new law change. Unless, someone is using hydrogenated olive oil, which I personally have never seen nor heard of.

Reply

Nobody forces twinkies down our throats instead of green beans. Anyone ever heard of personal responsibility and free will ?

Reply

You were the one who brought up pizza.

"Also, to anyone angry about this, you can still have you fries and your burgers and your pizza and whatever else you want. You won't even notice the difference."

Why can no one take responsibility for themselves? Does Bloomberg imagine himself some kind of kindly grandfather? Check out this article and particularly the last two paragraphs.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20061206/D8LRAK6G0.html

Reply

If fast food restaurants are removing them voluntarily, then why not let them do so and advertise this fact, thus obtaining a larger market share than those who don't follow suit? It used to be an individual's responsibility to take care of him or herself, to become educated on what's good for him and what's not. The government is the least qualified to judge this (remember cyclamates or DDT or all of those other things the government banned only to realize years later there was nothing wrong with them...oh, and yeah, letting all sorts of people die in the meantime...).

It's going to cost these restaurants something to make the switch, and if nothing else, print up new menus. I think people will notice the difference when their pizza and fries suddenly cost twice as much.

We really are on the path where the government will be controlling every aspect of our lives.

Reply

I read the article. What is your point?

Bloomberg is not on the health board.

I brought up pizza because, everyone who is against this mentions not being able to eat pizza.

So, again, you can still eat pizza. You can still eat french fries. No one is stopping you from eating those things, no matter how bad they are for you.

You can even still batter and deep fry a slab of bacon and serve it with a side of oil it was fried in. Just as long as you don't use a partially hydrogenated oil full of trans fats that are helping to cause a heart disease epidemic in the US.

Reply

The trans fat is a stumble in the right direction. First off, the science is new. In 1984 fast food companies were urged to remove saturated fats and replaced them with trans fats. Those who lobbied for this change saw their flaws in 1993 but looked the other way. Whats to say this wont happen with other seed oils?
Second, the public needs to consent to eating healthy, not be coerced into it. The public needs to be informed about harmful substances like trans fat, not just kept from it. If the harms of smoking can be understood by the public, so can the dangers of trans fats.

Reply

The point is that people like the woman in the final paragraphs are depending on the government to keep them safe from bad foods, not taking the responsibility themselves. To paraphrase a friend, if her kids liked playing in traffic, would she want Bloomberg to pass a law that all cars had to be made of foam?

I guess you simply have an idea that personal freedoms are conditional, not absolute. Infringing on the rights of restaurant owners or *any* individuals is contrary to the philosophy the U.S. was built on, and every time a law like this passes, another freedom is restricted. It's a bad sign of things to come.

Lest you think about saying something along the lines of "I have a personal freedom to kill you...blah, blah..." remember that *my* rights deny you that.

Reply

PghEats, restaurant owners do not have the "right" to serve whatever food they want. They can't serve spoiled meat, or eggs, or other perishable products. They can't drop something on the floor and then serve it. There are a myriad of health codes at the local, state, and federal level. Do you oppose all of those laws too?

This is not about personal freedom. This is about a restaurant's ability to put toxins in their food in order to save money. People can't choose to avoid trans fats in restaurants because they don't know what food contains trans fats. Banning them entirely is the only way to keep trans fat consumption down, in the interest of the public health.

Reply

I'm all for banning trans fats....now how about smoking, which is not only harmful to smoker, but those around as well. Both affects the high costs of health insurance. n

Reply

Public smoking has been banned in NYC for quite a while now.

Reply

Restaurant pizzas are generally packed with hydrogenated oil; not many places use olive oil. If they do, they are probably loudly proclaiming it.

Reply