Originally published January 12 2006
Survey finds chain restaurants are not switching from trans fat-based cooking
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has conducted a survey that found restaurant chains are lagging behind the manufacturers and supermarkets, which have already begun the process of removing trans fats from food products and preparation.
While many of America's biggest food manufacturers and supermarket chains are busily replacing trans fats with more healthful substitutes, the biggest restaurant chains are still frying French fries, chicken nuggets, and other fast foods in trans-fat-laden, heart-attack-inducing partially hydrogenated oils, according to a survey conducted by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).
That looming deadline has been a powerful incentive for supermarkets and food manufacturers to switch to healthier oils, but CSPI found that the lack of any nutrition labeling or disclosure requirements for restaurant chains has caused them to lag far behind.
* California Pizza Kitchen has removed trans fat from deep-fried foods and is working on eliminating it from all other foods.
Last year, Ruby Tuesday, with some 700 table-service restaurants around the country, began deep-frying in heart-healthy canola oil, though its suppliers still par-fry some items in partially hydrogenated oil.
Among companies that responded to CSPI, Starbucks, ice-cream chain Friendly, and fried-chicken chain Popeyes indicated they had no plans to remove or reduce trans fat in their foods.
McDonald's settled a lawsuit against it on the matter by giving $7 million to the American Heart Association and by promising to spend more money informing its customers about the "delay."
McDonald's outlets in Australia, Denmark, and Israel all fry in trans-free oil.
According to CSPI's survey, seven of the 10 top-selling cracker brands have been reformulated to contain zero grams of trans fat per serving.
That oil is generally produced in Indonesia and Malaysia, where oil palm plantations have replaced rainforest teeming with orangutans, tigers, and other endangered species.
Moreover, it promotes heart disease, though not to the same extent as the typical partially hydrogenated oil.
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