WEDNESDAY July 2, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- Starting on July 1, restaurants in New York City are required to ban artificial trans fat in all their menu items, the City Department of Health and Hygiene announced on June 30. It is not clear though if the ban applies to all restaurants in the city.

The ban affects all foods served including baked goods, oils, shortenings and margarines used for baking, and pre-prepared items that contain artificial trans fat.

The first phase implemented last year only applied to fry oils and spreads. Now the regulation covers previous excluded items such as baked goods, frozen foods, canola, and doughnuts as well.

However, the ban is not absolute.   Eateries are allowed to have trans fat present in menu items at a level of less than 0.5 grams per serving. And restaurants can serve processed foods such as candy and crackers in the manufacture's original, sealed packaging regardless of the amount of trans fat.

The health department said the adherence rate to the trans fat ban in the first phase is about 98 percent. Even better, some food chains and cooking oil manufacturers reduced saturated fat by 20 to 35 percent in addition to the elimination of trans fat.

Trans fat has been known to raise the risk of cardiovascular disease.   Harvard researchers estimated that trans fat is involved in up to 100,000 deaths in the United States each year.   Restaurants traditionally use lots of trans fat.

A foodconsumer.org health observer commented that it is a good practice that eateries do not introduce artificial trans fat into any menu items. However, he said trans fat can be naturally produced during cooking and food processing. The only safe way to absolutely avoid trans fat is not to use any processed or cooked food.