More grumblings from the Food Gestapo, this time from New York City . In the name of the “public good”, New York City officials are pushing for a complete ban on foods containing trans-fatty acids. Unfortunately, this includes one of my favorite snacks: Dunkin’ Donuts.
Three years after the city banned smoking in restaurants, health officials are talking about prohibiting something they say is almost as bad: artificial trans fatty acids. The city health department unveiled a proposal Tuesday that would bar cooks at any of the city’s 24,600 food service establishments from using ingredients that contain the artery-clogging substance, commonly listed on food labels as partially hydrogenated oil.
Doctors agree that trans fats are unhealthy in nearly any amount, but a spokesman for the restaurant industry said he was stunned the city would seek to ban a legal ingredient found in millions of American kitchens.
The proposal could create havoc: Cooks would be forced to discard old recipes and scrutinize every ingredient in their pantry. A restaurant could face a fine if an inspector finds the wrong type of vegetable shortening on its shelves.
The proposal also would create a huge problem for national chains. Among the fast foods that would need to get an overhaul or face a ban: McDonald’s french fries, Kentucky Fried Chicken and several varieties of Dunkin’ Donuts.
The War on Good-Tasting Food represents government intrusion into our private lives at its worst, with the future potential for government to dictate what citizens can and cannot eat at home. This proposal would represent a loss of personal freedom greater than any of the combatant detainee protocols proposed by the Bush Administration as part of the War on Terror. It could potentially lead to a ban on Twinkes, french fries, buffalo wings and donuts in their current form, and criminalize those persons who sell such food. What a bunch of baloney–which could also be banned, as it contains naturally-occuring trans fats present in all meat products.
I’m pretty sure that donuts can be made just as well with other types of shortening. The main reason hydrogenated oils are used boils down to one thing: price. Hydrogenated oils are cheaper and allow for greater profits. We CAN have good tasting food–it just might not be as profitable for the multinational conglomerates.
I agree with Mark. Donuts don’t need trans fats at all. I’ve had plenty of non trans fats donuts at stores all over NYC that tasted 10 times better than DD does, and they weren’t any more expensive. DD could not use trans fats, but then maybe they wouldnt make as many millions as they do now… maybe 1 or 2 mil less. Maybe they’ll realize that the $ they lose on using more digestible fats wll be made up by consumers who live longer…
Let’s push this up to Dunkin Donuts HQ and see what they say
I love this site.326161115
Please! Let’s discuss two things here. First, the concept of personal responsibility. If you don’t want to eat donuts or anything else that contains trans fats, by all means don’t. You can live to a ripe old age and spend the rest of us that chose not to follow your clearly superior path. No one should be shocked at the concept of donuts not being health food and even if they did change to a healthier oil they would still be bad for you. If you are concerned about your health, so to Subway, Jared! Secondly, the idea for the ban ridiculous big brother governmental medling and nothing more. If they can control what I eat, and what I smoke and where I can smoke, and what I can say and who can live here and who can’t then they can control all of us like their own little Lego Village. The ban on smoking flew because if I smoke next to you, you breathe it in and hence you get the effects as well as I. If I sit next to you, shoveling donuts and french fries and fried cheese and washing it down with a partially hydrongenated oil chaser, it affects you not at all (except for possibly making you a little queasy from watching). The same bill is being tried in Chicago, targeting only companies that make more than a certain amount per year (i.e. fast food chains). The idea is that since a company makes a certain amount of money, they must then be that much more socially responsible. But the diner on the corner that cooks their hashbrowns in bacon fat, he will be okay. Whatever. At the end of the day, it comes down to one thing. I want to be the only one who decides what I put in my mouth. Bring back the administration that like a little tail and porkrinds, thank you very much.
So, in a google search, we found your site and a fellow Dunkie Junkie’s excellent take on the NYC ban on trans-fat menu items….loved the Lego Village reference.
Figured we’d show off our Trademark SupahFan Apparel Dunkie Junkie Brand t-shirts and hoodies. Again, there is no relation to Dunkin’ Donuts but we New Englanders are addicted to coffee and proud to know that one of our local companies plans to expand rapidly this decade.
Check out our shirts in our webstore.
BTW, I took an MBA Franchising class from Bill Rosenberg and he stood firmly behind his assessment that dollars will always follow tastebuds in the restaurant industry.
Oh- so the webstore is at http://www.SupahFans.com
Kevin