King County May Ban Trans Fats At Restaurants (Washington State)

KIRO-TV ^ | July 10, 2007

[Stoat]

King County May Ban Trans Fats At Restaurants

 

POSTED: 7:53 am PDT July 10, 2007

UPDATED: 2:12 pm PDT July 10, 2007

 

SEATTLE -- Restaurants and food services would be required to stop using trans fats under a proposal the King County Board of Health will consider later this month.

The ban would affect 10,000 licensed kitchens in the county. "We can see no good reason to --- absolutely zero good reason -- why they should continue to put that stuff in any food product," said Julia Patterson of the King County Board of Health.

According to a recent study by the Harvard School of Public Health, replacing trans fats with unsaturated fats would prevent 30,000 to 100,000 premature deaths nationwide every year. Some major restaurant chains have switched, including McDonald's, Wendy's and KFC.

Some local restaurants like Beth's Café on Aurora Avenue in north Seattle have changed. Dick's Hamburgers has been experimenting with alternative cooking oils, but the local chain hasn't found one that meets its standards, according to the Seattle Times.

The Health Board is scheduled to vote on the trans fat ban on July 19. The restriction would be phased in over nine to 18 months.

New York City, Philadelphia, Montgomery County, Maryland and Brookline, Mass. have all passed measures that will require restaurants to phase out their use of trans fats, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

[Stoat]

Giving credit where it's due...I found this item because it's linked at Orbusmax

Orbusmax ™ Northwest News - 'Around The World In 80K'

Readers should be advised that a video report is available at the KIRO TV link

Regarding the trans-fat issue, I'm all for being a healthy stoat but this notion of the Government telling me what I can or can't eat, telling restaurants and chefs how they can cook their food and MOST OF ALL, the fact that Dick's Restaurants (a cornerstone of Seattle fast-food culture) is hesitant, saying that they haven't found a trans-fat-free product that "meets their standards" causes me GREAT concern.  If Dick's isn't happy with it, then that carries great weight with me (if you'll pardon the pun)

[SoldierMedic]

If Dick’s can still taste great without trans fat’s I’m all for it. I drill out of Ft Lawton, so Dicks is where I go to eat lunch 50% of the time. You just can’t beat those milkshakes.

[SoldierMedic]

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=transfat10m&date=20070710&query=trans+fats

In the biggest change to the menu since it started selling Diet Coke, Dick's has begun experimenting with different oils for its fries.

Over the past four months, cooks have conducted side-by-side tastings of potatoes fried in Primex — the oil that has created the crispy magic since Dick's opened in 1954 — vs. nontrans-fat oils.

It's a risky enterprise for a reputation built on flavors that never change.

[doc1019]

If Dick’s can sill taste great?

I will leave this one alone!!!!!

[Stoat]

If Dick’s can still taste great without trans fat’s I’m all for it. I drill out of Ft Lawton, so Dicks is where I go to eat lunch 50% of the time. You just can’t beat those milkshakes.

Agreed.  From the Dick's website:

Dicks Drive In Restaurant

Dick's shakes are made the old fashioned way: You won't find any machine-made shakes at Dick's. Our shakes are hand-dipped and individually whipped the old fashioned way for truly smooth texture that you just can't get out of a machine.

The shakes are indeed wonderful.

Regarding trans-fats, I'm particularly worried about the fries and the burgers, which have a distinctive taste that makes me keep coming back decade after decade.

It would destroy the entire Dick's Experience if that flavor were to change.

[doc1019]

No, no … I promise to leave this one to someone else!!!! LMO!!!!

[DakotaRed]

As long as it doesn’t interfere with their Starbucks, they won’t mind. Nothing can interfere with their Starbucks, not even a tax to help the children.

[SoldierMedic]

Get your mind out of the gutter! ;)

[doc1019]

I’m laughing so hard, my stomach hurst. Can’t believe that someone hasn’t gone with this one.

[bboop]

I cannot STAND having the state tell me what I can and cannot eat, and what restaurants can and cannot cook with. How vilely invasive!

[IslandJeff]

From My Cold Dead Hands.

[DakotaRed]

My comment submitted to their moderator,

I think it is a fantastic idea. King County residents need to trim down and become healthier and live longer to pay more taxes. Who knows, maybe less transfats will clear the heads up there so the next election counting can be done without initially missing and losing so many ballots, until the third recount.

Smoking is banned, for our health. Helmets must be worn, for our health. So why not food as well? You want a nanny state, why go half way? Let’s ban everything someone else doesn’t like.

[IslandJeff]

They’ll print it. Irony is completely lost upon Seattle.

God, I hate this place.

[IslandJeff]

That’s Holman Road - back when Ballard was itself incorporated, I think.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Why don’t they just ban fat people from public establishments?

[Stoat]

Why don’t they just ban fat people from public establishments?

Probably because fat people vote.

(Hmmm....that argument didn't work for smokers, though)

[doc1019]

I can’t … the subject leads it self to the “gutter”. Still laughing, sorry.

[weegee]

Libs want Big Brother out of the Bedroom and IN the Kitchen and Bathroom.

[Stoat]

They’ll print it. Irony is completely lost upon Seattle.

God, I hate this place.

Love the climate, hate the Socialist twits.  "sigh"

I want to visit Texas one day.  Every time I see a post here at Free Republic about Texas, it's about something good happening there.

One Texas Freeper Lady told me that when a man in Texas whistles at a lady, she usually turns, smiles at him and says "Why, thank you sugar".

Here in Seattle, if a man were to whistle at a woman, he would be beaten bloody by militant-feminist bull-dykes before he could be arrested for sexual harassment.

"sigh"

 

They’ll print it. Irony is completely lost upon Seattle.

God, I hate this place.

[IslandJeff]

Dallas/Ft. Worth was my second choice. It’s sprawling and endless, sort of like Los Angeles without the beaches. Flat and hot as heck, but the best folks in the world down there.

Check it out. Cheap, too.