Next for NYC Trans Fat Ban: Enforcement

Trans fat-free Extra Crispy fried chicken is seen in this file photo at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in New York in this Monday, Oct. 30, 2006 file photo. New York City's first-in-the-nation ban on artificial trans fats makes July of 2008 the deadline for completely phasing the artery-clogging substance out of restaurant kitchens. But before then city's health department is pledging "technical support" to cooks before the first part of the ban that takes effect next summer. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File) (Kathy Willens - AP)

Small amounts of trans fatty acids occur naturally in a variety of animal products, but New York's ban only applies to the artificial variety, most commonly listed on food labels as partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.

For restaurants and bakeries, that primarily involves cooking oil used in some deep friers and the shortening in some crackers, cookies, cakes and breads.

Experts say replacing frying oil is the easier of the two tasks, and restaurants have been given until July to switch to a substitute. Finding a replacement for shortenings in baked goods could be tougher, and cooks have until mid-2008 to alter those recipes.

Inspectors will start citing restaurants for violations in July, with penalties ranging from $200 to $2,000 per offense. Restaurants will get a three-month grace period during which no fines will be issued.

"This is not going to be, like, a 'gotcha' thing," said Dr. Elliot Marcus, associate commissioner for the health department's bureau of food safety. "What we are trying to do is ensure compliance ... We aren't looking to generate revenue for the city."

Restaurant groups initially feared crippling fines when the city implemented its ban on smoking in restaurants and bars, and for a while their fears seemed to be realized.

Today, Marcus said, "we have about a 99 percent compliance rate" on smoking.

"I have no reason to suspect it won't be exactly the same" with trans fats, he said.