Filed at 11:38 a.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- The
Board of Health voted Tuesday to make New York the first city in the
nation to ban artificial trans fats at restaurants -- from the corner
pizzeria to high-end bakeries.
The board, which passed
the ban by a unanimous vote, did give restaurants a slight break by
relaxing what had been considered a tight deadline for compliance.
Restaurants will be barred from using most frying oils containing
artificial trans fats by July 1, and will have to eliminate the
artificial trans fats from all of its foods by July 1, 2008.
Health Commissioner
Thomas Frieden said recently that officials seriously weighed
complaints from the restaurant industry, which argued that it was
unrealistic to give them six months to replace cooking oils and
shortening and 18 months to phase out the ingredients altogether.
Trans fats are believed
to be harmful because they contribute to heart disease by raising bad
cholesterol and lowering good cholesterol at the same time. Some
experts say that makes trans fats worse than saturated fat.
------
Associated Press Writer David B. Caruso contributed to this report.
