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Major Restaurants Dumping Trans Fats

October 31st, 2006

There has been a major shift in the restaurant industry away from the use of once-prevalent trans fats. An optimist would say this is because of good corporate citizenship, a pessimist might say this is due to threats of lawsuits and changing regulations. In truth, there is more to the picture.

KFC (formerly Kentucky Fried Chicken, now ashamed of the word “fried”, apparently) will have dropped its current trans-fat laden cooking oil in favor of soybean oil by April ‘07. They are not alone; recently, Wendy’s removed trans fat from its fries, earlier this year Disney announced it will eliminate trans fats from food sold at its theme parks, McDonalds is actively experimenting to find the tastiest way to make trans-fat free cuisine a staple at the golden arches, as well. Kraft, ConAgra and Frito-Lay have also reduced trans fat use in their products.

Since the NYC Board of Health is holding hearings on a potential city-wide ban on trans fats, and companies like KFC have been targets of lawsuits by the likes of the Center for Science in the Public Interest over non-disclosure of trans fat use, it seems that corporate America has been forced to act by forces outside of the boardroom. That is only part of the story, though.

The real movement seems like it may be coming from within these organizations. Pollsters working for KFC, for instance, have determined that they will actually sell more product if they make the switch. That’s a pretty compelling argument. It seems that 25% of KFC customers said they would eat MORE fried chicken if they didn’t have to worry about trans fats.

Consider the strength of that factoid- this is not a boycott. This isn’t some potentially disinterested group of people saying “don’t eat at KFC”, and picketing with banners and cardboard signs. These are people who are already money-in-the-bank customers claiming they’d eat MORE. From an Aesopean perspective, the bird in the hand is worth two in the picket line.

Can capitalism save our collective health? I doubt it, but then again… every little bit helps.

AND PLEASE DON”T EAT MORE CHICKEN JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN!!

Inspiration:
KFC plans ‘important’ trans fat ‘milestone’ (USA Today)

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Entry Filed under: Diet, General Health