New York restaurants drop trans fats ahead of ban

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Yorkers are worried that when a citywide ban on artificial trans fats goes into effect on Sunday, French fries will lose their crunch.

But many of the city's restaurants found alternatives to the artery-clogging frying oil and spreads weeks or months ago and say most customers never noticed.

"Some people don't even know, and very few people have asked about it," said Peter Dafnos, manager at Westway Diner, which replaced trans-fat-laden shortening with canola oil six months ago. The change will cost him an additional $1,000 per year, he said.

Burger King said it will eliminate trans fats in New York by Sunday, McDonald's started removing them from New York restaurants in October last year, and Wendy's stopped using them nationwide in August 2006.

"The customers (in taste tests) seem to be quite happy with the way the fries are tasting," Burger King spokesman Keva Silversmith said.

Trans fat increases so-called bad cholesterol in food and clogs arteries. Health officials have advised consuming as little as possible and some cities have banned artificial trans fats from restaurants.

Eighty-three percent of restaurants had stopped using artificial trans fats for frying by June 1, up from 50 percent in 2006, the New York City Department of Health said on Friday.

Restaurants will have a three-month grace period to comply with the ban. The health department said it would not issue citations until October 1. Fines range from $200 to $2,000.

There's also been progress in the second, trickier phase of the ban -- eliminating trans fats from baked goods, like pie crusts and cakes -- which takes effect in July 2008. Fifty-seven percent of restaurants have sworn off all artificial trans fats, the health department said.

New Yorkers have reacted to the bill with ambivalence, with some saying it is not the job of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who proposed the plan last year, to watch what they eat.

"We should have all the fat that we want," said Rose Walsh, who called herself a stay-at-home Manhattan grandmother in her 50s, as she and two friends lunched on Big Macs, fries and Cokes.

"We all had what we wanted," she said. "And that's the way it should be. We have to have our independence."

At the health-conscious Better Burger, Sherrel Farnsworth, 40, a graphic designer, said she supported the ban as long as food still tasted good.

"Trans fats freak me out," she said. "They might as well call it the French fry bill, because that's what everyone's thinking about."

(Additional reporting by Jessica Wohl and Brad Dorfman in Chicago and Sarah Coffey in New York)