Montgomery Cooks Adjust for Fat Ban
By Steve Hendrix
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 30, 2007; C01
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."
Patrick Smith, food service director for Carriage Hill of Bethesda nursing home, said his suppliers have been struggling to catch up with the Montgomery requirements. Smith was preparing to make his first ban-compliant order last week, but he has been working since October to find a suitable oils, peanut butter and margarine.
"It's been a little confusing," Smith said. "The rep told me our old brand of margarine had been reformulated to be compliant, but when it came I saw on the label that it had more than .5 grams" of trans fat.
The next batch came with a new label that indicated the product met county standards, Smith said.
Wilkes, of Tastee Diner, has had less luck finding a mix to replace the Gold Medal Buttermilk Biscuit mix that has been his standard for years. The manufacturer told him that Washingtonians don't eat enough biscuits to make it worthwhile for them to formulate a trans-fat-free version.
"They said, 'We're not going to do this just for Montgomery County and New York; most of our biscuits are sold in the South,' " Wilkes said.
As a result, Wilkes's longtime head cook, Myrtle Gilzeane, will be testing recipes for scratch biscuits as well as pies and cakes to replace the Sara Lee goods served. Wilkes was less optimistic about finding a substitute for the Chef-mate corned-beef hash that is one of the diner's most popular items.
"There's going to be a lot complaints of about this one," said Wilkes, holding up a can of hash. "It'll take me six months to get one back on the menu."
Wilkes has at least a year to convert his entire menu, but he's not waiting. He plans to strip all items containing trans fat from his pantry so he can bill his restaurants as trans fat free by New Year's Day. His haste has to do with the county's requirement that restaurants post signs proclaiming the establishment "in compliance" with the trans fat ban as it is phased in over the next two years. Wilkes said he thinks it will be less confusing to his customers simply to go trans fat free right away.
"You might as well bite the bullet," said Wilkes, who owns a third Tastee Diner in Laurel, just across the Montgomery border. "But we're not throwing anything in the trash can. We're going to pack it up and take it to [Prince George's] County. You'll still be able to get a good piece of lemon pie there."
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