Originally published October 20 2005
New trans fat guidelines create problems for fast food companies
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
McDonald's and Taco Bell are under pressure from activist groups that are urging the food chains to drop trans fats from their menus.
None of them work for Peter Wilson, senior director of technology at Kraft Foods.
Wilson and his team of food scientists and engineers have invested 30,000 hours in trying to convert the Oreo we know and love into one that tastes just like the original but is considerably less likely to clog snackers' arteries.
Eager to pre-empt the requirement, manufacturers--from ABC Bakers, maker of Girl Scout Cookies, to Campbell Soup Co.--have been scrambling to come up with trans-fat- free recipes for their products.
Meanwhile, an anti-trans-fat movement led by public-interest groups is making waves in the $ 476 billion restaurant industry, pestering such fast-food giants as McDonald's and Taco Bell.
Trans fats are byproducts in hydrogenated oils--whose constituent fats have been chemically altered by the addition of hydrogen atoms.
Those oils are loved by restaurateurs because they can be repeatedly reheated without breaking down and by food processors because they're resistant to rancidity.
Joseph, who believes trans fats in margarine helped kill his stepfather, sued Kraft in May 2003 to stop it from marketing Oreos to elementary school students.
It has succeeded in converting 73% of its cookies and crackers, including Triscuits.
But so far, the Oreo project has put on store shelves only low-fat, sugar-free and "golden" varieties of the cookie, which taste nothing like the original, which is still sold.
Food giant ConAgra, which successfully produces trans-fat-free margarine spreads, has found stick margarine an intractable challenge.
(Buyer beware: a medium order of French fries contains 4 g of trans fats.)
When that hadn't happened a year later, Joseph sued the chain for inadequately publicizing the delay.
About 10 billion lbs. of that soy oil gets hydrogenated, according to Mark Matlock, senior vice president of food research at Archer Daniels Midland (ADM).
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