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Transfat Bans

Overview

Trans fat is the common name for a particular type of unsaturated fat.  The vast majority of trans fats that Americans consume are artificially produced.  Although trans fat has certain properties that make it well suited to commercial food production, such as greater stability, longer shelf life, and low cost, these advantages are achieved at the expense of human health.

Excess trans fat intake is associated with a number of negative health consequences. Several epidemiological studies have demonstrated a strong link between the consumption of trans fat and coronary heart disease. Trans fat intake may also play a role in weight gain and a host of other health conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, breast cancer, diabetes, and infertility. Therefore, leading public health experts and organizations recommend that consumers limit trans fat foods as much as possible, while maintaining a nutritionally adequate diet.

Limiting one’s trans fat intake is difficult to do, however, in the absence of information. At present, federal law only requires disclosure of the trans fat content of packaged foods. Americans are purchasing meals in restaurants on an increasingly frequent basis, which has led to a rise in our total daily intake of trans fat. But because restaurant foods are exempt from federal nutrition labeling requirements, consumers have no consistent way of determining which restaurant foods contain high levels of artificial trans fat and no practical means of avoiding them.

Recognizing the limits of federal regulation, a number of states and localities have considered legislative proposals to limit or eliminate artificial trans fat use in food service establishments. To date, trans fat bans have passed in roughly a dozen localities and one state, California, has imposed a statewide ban on artificial trans fat in restaurants. Legislation banning the use of artificial trans fats in restaurants has gained currency across the United States as a strategy for increasing consumer access to healthier foods, combating the epidemic of heart disease, and promoting overall public health.

Legal Issues

While state and local trans fat bans are a promising public health intervention, such laws may be subject to legal challenge on constitutional grounds. Critics have argued that trans fat bans are unduly burdensome and the costs of compliance may jeopardize the livelihoods of smaller, independent restaurants. Critics have also asserted that trans fat bans negatively affect interstate commerce by requiring national restaurant chains to alter their products, thereby disrupting their national distribution chains, depriving them of the economic advantages associated with mass production, and interfering with their national brand image. In addition, some critics have argued that state and local governments lack the authority to ban food ingredients that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved and only the federal government may restrict the use of artificial trans fat.

Many states and localities are engaged in debate over laws banning the use of artificial trans fat in restaurants.  Although well crafted laws and policies are likely to be successfully enforced and survive legal challenges, proponents need to be aware of possible legal issues they may face and a range of policy options they might consider.

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  Trans Fat Bans

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