Monday, June 16, 2008

NYC continues on trans fat mission

In a press release today, NYC will be implementing further its ban on trans fat in cooking products. As of July 1, all artifical trans fat items will be off the menus in NYC. NYC had already begun to ban trans fat in their restaurants last year, but this is the final installment of the series.

I know this was a very hot topic of debate when NYC first suggested this ban at the end of 2006. Everything from economics to personal freedom to "nanny" regulations were discussed. I think this has died down a bit, but I'm not sure since I do not live in NYC nor do I go to fast food restaurants where these trans fats were mostly the culprit. It does look like NYC restaurants have mostly complied with the ban, though maybe that was so they wouldn't get fined?

Anyway, I do know that just about every single product these days touts "no trans fat." Does it make people think about their health more? Do people know what trans fats even are? So I guess I wonder whether this has been truly helpful. Has it really slashed the obesity crisis? Hard to tell with any of this, and there are so many other confounding factors involved. Will this stir up more hackles and regulations? I guess only time will tell.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i find that this happens a lot here in america. it's as if we think one single thing is causing our weigh problems and if we could just find it we could uncover our optimal selves. i like to think that most ppl do realize that it's not about one thing but a combonation of how many ppl here choose to live their lives.

honestly i don't know about making it a law...that seems a bit too much gov't interfering for my taste. and no i don't think ppl really understand trans fat. nutrition really should be a topic covered in early education because the media sure isn't helping us get a balanced view...

Tiptoe said...

Anon, definitely agree with you on all points.