Trans Fat To Be Trimmed

Monday, March 09, 2009 03:49 AM

Prince George, B.C. – Over the weekend, the B.C. Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport announced B.C. will be the first province in the country to restrict trans fat in all prepared and served foods in B.C. restaurants.

Trans fat comes in two forms - naturally occurring in meat or dairy products and industrially-produced, in oils, spreads and margarines and hidden in prepared foods like donuts, croissants and other baked goods.

Trans fat increases a person's risk of coronary heart disease by raising levels of bad cholesterol and lowering levels of good cholesterol, leading to clogged arteries.

Under the new regulations, the amount of trans fat content of oils and spreadable margarines is limited to 2% of total fat and restricts trans fat content of all other foods to 5% of total fat content of the food.

So what does that mean to some of your favourite fast foods?

Here are some of the nutrition facts supplied by the companies noted below:

Item	Total Fat (grams)	Saturated Fat (grams)	Trans Fat (grams)	Trans Fat % of Total Fat
McDonald’s double Quarter Pounder with Cheese	42	19	2.5	5.9%
Burger King Double Whopper with Cheese	65	24	2.5	3.8%
Wendy’s ½ lb double with cheese	40	17	2.0	5.%
Tim Horton’s Apple Fritter	11	5	0.1	0.9%
A&W Double Teen Burger	39	17	1	2.5%

All food service establishments that require a permit to operate a food service in B.C. must comply with the new regulation by Sept.30^th of this year. This includes restaurants, delis, cafeterias, educational institutions, health care institutions, schools, special events, and bakeries.

Packaged foods sold directly to the consumer that have a federally-approved Nutrition Facts Table on the package are exempt from the regulation.

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Posted on Monday, March 09, 2009 03:49 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: RUEZ on March 9 2009 4:26 AM

Way to go after the important stuff Campbell.

Posted by: whitewater on March 9 2009 7:25 AM

Just add more other fat and make it a happy meal.

Posted by: diplomat on March 9 2009 7:57 AM

Some fats are very nasty whereas others like olive oil, coconut oil, grape sees oil actually raise the level of good HDL and lower the level LDL.

Restaurants have to learn how to prepare healthier meals, even if it costs a little more.

It's important to regulate the industry and help improve health in the population, so well done, Campbell!

Posted by: gus on March 9 2009 10:57 AM

Healthy food, clean drinking water, clean air to breathe and a good health care system are the essentials which sustain modern human life.

Everything else is secondary.

I am unsure why anyone would react negatively to anyone, politician or otherwise, who does what they can through the authority and powers at their disposal to enure that the population is taken care of with respect to those basics.

Posted by: Chester on March 9 2009 5:32 PM

An encouraging change to our regulations that will benefit most consumers. Congratulations. Hopefully the restriction of reducing Trans Fats is not replaced by some other synthetic, dangerous substitute that is also unhealthy.