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Mar 4, 2007 1:43 pm US/Pacific

Committees Consider Bills To Ban Trans Fats

(AP) SACRAMENTO California may be joining the health crusade against trans fats, the artery-clogging substances that can mean longer shelf life for food but shorter life spans for humans.

Bills scheduled for hearings this week in the state Assembly would ban the use of artificially created trans fats in food prepared in California's restaurants, grocery stores and schools.

"Trans fats kill people," said Assemblyman Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia. "They're a major cause of heart disease and diabetes. They have no nutritional value. Why have them?"

Mendoza is the author of a bill that would phase out the use of oils, margarine and shortening containing trans fats to prepare foods in restaurants, bakeries, delicatessens, cafeterias and other businesses classified as "food facilities" starting in July 2008.

Food items sold in their manufacturers' sealed packaging would be exempt.

Mendoza's bill is scheduled to be considered Tuesday by the Assembly Health Committee.

Bills by Assemblymen Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, and Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, that would ban trans fats in school food are on the Assembly Education Committee's agenda on Wednesday.

Trans fats are a type of unsaturated fat that occurs naturally in small amounts in meat and dairy products. Most trans fats that are consumed are created when vegetable oil is treated with hydrogen to create baked goods and other items with a longer shelf life.

A number of studies have found that trans fats increase bad cholesterol and reduce the amount of good cholesterol in humans.

New York City and Philadelphia have approved ordinances banning trans fat. Bills have been introduced in at least 15 other states to take the same step, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In addition, a number of restaurant and hotel chains, cruise lines and airlines have voluntarily barred food prepared with trans fat-containing oils.

Huffman says some California schools also have banned trans fats on their own.

"They are waking up to the reality that trans fats are just terrible for our kids," he said.

But Lara Dunbar, senior vice president of government affairs for the California Restaurant Association, which opposes the Mendoza bill, says barring trans fats could have unintended consequences.

"Banning one type of bad fat and allowing for the use of other fats that may be just as damaging, I think that misleads the public," she said.

She said the bill could impose hardships on small restaurants by forcing them to shift to more expensive substitutes that could be in shorter supply.

A better approach would be an education campaign to encourage the public to avoid foods high in trans fats, she said.

But Mendoza said trans-fat bearing oils are easily replaceable at comparable costs.

"If you have companies like KFC, Wendy's ... who are voluntarily going trans fat-free, why can't any other restaurants follow the same way?"

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