Many local restaurants and bakeries could be forced to revise their menus and change their food — thanks to the Food and Drug Administration's decision to ban artery-clogging trans fats — not long after they scrambled to meet different trans fat guidelines.
Bob Luz, president of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, said many establishments already made major modifications to their food in order to be officially "trans fat-free," a description the FDA said required less than .5 grams of trans fats per serving in 2006. Now, more modifications will have to be made to completely eliminate the artificial trans fats.
"All of the hard work and effort that everybody put into achieving that .5" is for naught, Luz said. "They're going to have to go back to the drawing boards. That's going to be costly, that's going to take time."
The FDA is collecting comments for two months before determining a timetable to phase-out trans fats. Different foods may have different schedules, depending on how easy it is to find substitutes.
Luz said he would have no problem with the FDA regulation if it did not undo the previous guidelines.
"This would not be a major hurdle if not for the .5 definition," Luz said.
Several towns in Massachusetts already have banned trans fats, including Brookline and Chelsea.
Richard Katz, owner of Katz Bagel Bakery in Chelsea and an ardent opponent of the ban, said he was forced to stop making his popular apple and raspberry turnovers. He said he tried to make them without shortening, but "customers came back the next week and said what was wrong with your turnovers?"
While he has no illusions about trans fats' lack of nutritional value, Katz said restaurants and customers should be able to choose what to eat.
"You don't have to eat trans fats every single day, have them once in a while," he said. "People continue to smoke, they continue to drink and they continue to eat."
Katz decided to continue to use trans fats in his chicken pot pie and pie crusts, although he no longer makes the turnovers.
"People love my chicken pot pies. They love the crust because my crust is good," Katz said.
The Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents the country's largest food suppliers, said in a statement that manufacturers have lowered the amount of trans fats in food by more than 73 percent since 2005.
Many high-profile restaurants have largely eliminated trans fats already, including Friendly's and Dunkin' Donuts. Only 18 items out of 547 on the Dunkin' Donuts master menu contain trans fats. The Canton-based chain voluntarily eliminated a majority of the trans fats in its menu items in 2007.
Dunkin' Donuts spokeswoman Michelle King said the company is "assessing" the FDA decision to phase out trans fats and "will continue to monitor the issue."
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