Hey, Waiter, What's This Dairy Item In My Dish?

Starting New Year's Day, the toast at Bethesda's Tastee Diner will be buttered with something unusual: butter.

With the first phase of Montgomery County's restaurant ban on trans fat going into effect Tuesday, the diner's Bethesda and Silver Spring branches will switch from the margarine that has been the norm for more than 35 years to genuine butter, owner Gene Wilkes said.

"It'll cost more, about 5 cents per breakfast," Wilkes said of his return to a real dairy spread, which is about twice as expensive as his margarine. "We're talking about a lot of toast here."

Wilkes estimated the switch to a trans-fat-free menu will add $1,500 a month to his supply tab, which he will pass on to his customers. "Things are going to be a little less tasty and a little more expensive, but we'll survive," said Wilkes, who has owned the popular 24-hour diners since 1971, summarizing Montgomery's latest foray into the legislation of healthy habits.

Restaurant owners, suppliers and health inspectors across the county have been working in recent months to adjust to one of the nation's first bans on partially hydrogenated oils in restaurants, supermarket bakeries and delis. The County Council approved the ban in April, following similar actions in New York City and Philadelphia.

In recent weeks, the county's Department of Health and Human Services, which enforces food-handling regulations, has been sending fliers explaining the new rules to more than 2,400 food-service license holders. The agency held workshops for restaurant owners and plans to have informational events and other instructional events over the next several months. In August, it began training its 18 health inspectors to spot trans fat that might be lurking in complex ingredient lists and nutrition labels and to explain it all to baffled cooks.

"We plan to do as much education as enforcement this year," said John Munley, the department's program manager for the ban. "We know we will have to overcome an initial hurdle of confusion: What does it mean? Who does it apply to? When are the deadlines? But I think when people understand what they need to do, they will comply."

The restrictions will be introduced slowly, starting Tuesday with the requirement that margarines, spreads and frying oils contain no more than a half-gram of trans fat per serving. (There is a one-year exception for the deep frying of yeast dough, which Munley called "the doughnut exclusion.")

The more serious prohibition will begin Jan. 1, 2009, when oils and spreads will have to be trans fat free, as will baked goods and prepared dishes. Even then, restaurants that need extra time to find replacement pies, cakes and other processed foods will be given a 12-month extension, meaning the total ban will effectively not kick in until 2010.

There will also be an exception for manufactured foods served to customers in sealed containers, such as individual jelly containers and cracker packets.

"It's the next phase we're concerned about," said Melvin Thompson of the Restaurant Association of Maryland. Food suppliers have made progress in reformulating frying oils and spreads, and many restaurants have switched their fryers over, he said. But pancake mixes, cookie dough and other baked items will take longer.

"When we talked to General Mills and some of the suppliers last year, they simply had no alternatives," Thompson said. "We're hoping they will make progress in the next year."