Restaurant Trans-Fat Ban On Front Burner in Area

"Restaurants and manufacturers pleaded with us for an incentive program," Hubbard said this week. "This is better than forcing it down their throats. The whole idea is to try to do something to save lives. If it works, great. If not, we'll be back with another bill next year."

The only state to enact legislation so far is New Jersey, whose bill requires school cafeterias to reduce purchase and consumption of foods containing trans fats. A number of cities and private companies also are moving to eliminate or reduce trans fats. As lawmakers respond to public awareness of the issue, the industry has pushed for voluntary measures, saying that restaurants don't have enough suitable alternatives yet and shouldn't be regulated.

In Maryland, Hubbard sent a letter to Health Secretary John M. Colmers this month, asking him to work with the restaurant association on a voluntary measure similar to one the industry is negotiating with the city of Baltimore. Restaurants that remove trans fats from their foods would get state-issued decals, which they would put on their windows.

"It's a special seal, like a gold star," said Melvin Thompson, spokesman for the Restaurant Association of Maryland. "It certainly shows the customer that this restaurant has been recognized for going above and beyond."

Thompson said restaurants do not have sufficient alternatives: Soybean and canola oil can be substituted for trans fat in some foods, but production is insufficient, he said.

"Right now, if you make me do this, I might have to switch back to butter, and then you haven't reduced anyone's cholesterol."

Martin said she has worked for almost a year to wring trans fat from her restaurant's offerings. And although she found alternatives for most trans fats, such as the oil used in deep frying, other products were hard to replace, particularly the baked pies and pastries she buys from national suppliers.

"The county isn't going to be able to legislate Sara Lee," Martin said. "To be totally trans-fat-free is almost going to be humanly impossible."

Some restaurants, eager to bill themselves as trans-fat-free, have made the switch. Several large chains such as Legal Seafoods, Ruby Tuesday and Quizno's are in the process of eliminating trans fats from their menus, according to the Maryland Restaurant Association. Others such as McDonald's offer some foods low in trans fat. Bethesda-based Marriott Corp. announced in February that it will ban trans-fat cooking oil from its more than 2,300 hotels in North America.

Public health activists welcome the flurry of state and local action and have criticized the federal government for failing to act.

"Ideally, the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] would use its authority to get rid of artificial trans fat across the nation," said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest.