NYC weighing first trans fatty acids ban

[masterblaster72 0]

from here:

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On Monday, the Board of Health will hold its first public hearing on a proposal to make New York the first U.S. city to ban restaurants from serving food containing artificial trans fats.

May seem like "government paternalism run amok," but I think extreme situations (obesity in America) call for extreme measures -- and what better way to begin attacking the problem than to ban one of the main ingredients that causes it -- partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.

I hope the ban becomes law and has the nation-wide ripple effect that the article suggests will follow as a result. Maybe one day we'll even stop seeing the garbage listed in the ingredients of half of the packaged foods available on supermarket shelves.

And maybe I'm dreaming, but perhaps some day the republican corn lobby will be shut down and we'll stop seeing high fructose corn syrup listed in those ingredients as well.

Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

[Gravitymaster 0]

Damn, blamed it on the Repubs in a single post. How many do you think it will take to blame it on Bush?

[Gawain 0]

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Damn, blamed it on the Repubs in a single post. How many do you think it will take to blame it on Bush?

Well, since he took the fun out of it for the rest to blame the right-wingers, it may be a moot point....like a thread that committed suicide...

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[billvon 3,119]

>but I think extreme situations (obesity in America) call for extreme measures . . .

I don't. Alcohol causes a lot of deaths, but I don't support prohibition. Tobacco - same thing, but I don't think its usage should be banned completely.

OTOH, I would support a law that requires uniform labeling so customers can identify what sort of ingredients - and in what concentrations - are in the food they buy. That way customers can decide for themselves based on good information.

[kelpdiver 2]

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OTOH, I would support a law that requires uniform labeling so customers can identify what sort of ingredients - and in what concentrations - are in the food they buy. That way customers can decide for themselves based on good information.

aye, I'm with this. Consumers need the information to makes these choices themselves. The next step, if needed, is to have restaurants provide some information about the types of fats and sweeteners used. It's not a ban.

[pug 0]

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>but I think extreme situations (obesity in America) call for extreme measures . . .

I don't. Alcohol causes a lot of deaths, but I don't support prohibition. Tobacco - same thing, but I don't think its usage should be banned completely.

OTOH, I would support a law that requires uniform labeling so customers can identify what sort of ingredients - and in what concentrations - are in the food they buy. That way customers can decide for themselves based on good information.

...but isn't the issue that it is not always necessary to label the stuff? While the prepackaged products you buy in the supermarket do tend to give you an overview of what impact they may or may not have on you health, your average restaurant will not.

The consumer doesn't always have all the power. I'd argue that the general premise of the ban is a good one, but that some restraint has to be exercised (i.e., that any attempts similar to the prohibition are bound to fail, and therefore a total ban is illusionary).

Although stuff like this does make me want to reconsider that...

[billvon 3,119]

>While the prepackaged products you buy in the supermarket do tend
>to give you an overview of what impact they may or may not have on you
>health, your average restaurant will not.

Right. So require labeling in menus.

[pug 0]

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Right. So require labeling in menus.

Thinking of most of the restaurants I frequent, they'd have to reprint their menus, adding about 2 pages convering the list of ingrediences. On top of that there is the difficulty of rotating cooks, who tend to have distinct styles of preparing the same dish, thereby changing the fat / calorie component somewhat.

Prepackaged products are produced in a controlled environment -- hard to enforce in an average restaurant, and nigh impossible for certain types of cuisine.

I think that a ban might even be warranted in that type of environment, guaranteeing some sort of minimum standard for food purchased in restaurants.

In my view I'd agree though that for supermarket goods a ban seems superfluous.

[billvon 3,119]

>Thinking of most of the restaurants I frequent, they'd have to reprint
> their menus, adding about 2 pages convering the list of ingrediences.

Perhaps. That would be the down side. Given the size of the current obesity epidemic (no pun intended) it may not be a bad tradeoff.

>On top of that there is the difficulty of rotating cooks, who tend to have
>distinct styles of preparing the same dish, thereby changing the fat /
>calorie component somewhat.

So reprint the menus, or have the menus printed every day/week/month, or have video menus, or have the menus on the wall, or print a separate information sheet, or have the chefs follow a specific recipie. Tens of thousands of chefs do that already.

[akarunway 1]

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Right. So require labeling in menus.

Thinking of most of the restaurants I frequent, they'd have to reprint their menus, adding about 2 pages convering the list of ingrediences. On top of that there is the difficulty of rotating cooks, who tend to have distinct styles of preparing the same dish, thereby changing the fat / calorie component somewhat.

Prepackaged products are produced in a controlled environment -- hard to enforce in an average restaurant, and nigh impossible for certain types of cuisine.

I think that a ban might even be warranted in that type of environment, guaranteeing some sort of minimum standard for food purchased in restaurants.

In my view I'd agree though that for supermarket goods a ban seems superfluous.

Not to mention the spit ,pissy,ass hand sweat, hair and the amount of rat feces and other stuff the FDA allows

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

[Shotgun 1]

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>Thinking of most of the restaurants I frequent, they'd have to reprint
> their menus, adding about 2 pages convering the list of ingrediences.

Perhaps. That would be the down side. Given the size of the current obesity epidemic (no pun intended) it may not be a bad tradeoff.

I don't think that the obesity epidemic has much to do with a lack of labeling in restaurant menus.

[nathaniel 0]

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stuff the FDA allowsWink

http://lists.foodsafetyweb.info/archives/foodsafe.html

More than you ever wanted to know about food safety. The archives of a mailing list frequented both by food safety professionals and laymen.

My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Lebowski?

[billvon 3,119]

>I don't think that the obesity epidemic has much to do with a
>lack of labeling in restaurant menus.

I think there are a great many causes of the obesity epidemic. The #1 cause is that more fatty food is available than ever before and it's cheaper than ever before. There are a host of other causes. One of the minor causes is that people simply don't know what's good for them and what's not. Fried breaded zucchini (vegetable) or broiled fatty fish, like tuna? A partially educated consumer trying to eat better might well choose the vegetable over the meat. Labeling can help avoid such errors.

[nathaniel 0]

How about a city-wide computer database. Restaurants each get a terminal. For every order, the restaurant enters it into the database, and the database spits back a sin tax based on how much the particular glutton in question has eaten that day. Grocers too, with grocery taxes indexed by nutritional value and amortized over the shelf life of the product or some multiple of the number of servings against the glutton's outstanding inventory.

No tax up to the maximum USRDAs, then progressively increasing tax.

Just provide your state-issued ID for service.

My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Lebowski?

[martin-o 0]

I believe there is three main reasons for the obesity in the western world, the first being the lack of exercise that is allowed. More people than ever can, if they choose, sit on their arse day out and day in. The second is the crappy food products that Bill describes. The third one is the lack of meaning in people’s lives; depression and anxiety syndromes have been at a constant rise for a long time. Depression in itself is an easy way to gain weight as many self medicate with food. As an extra twist, most of the antidepressants have the side effect of weight gain.

To put it simple; People sit in their couches feeling sorry for the selves and eating shitty food.