Institute For The Future

Bye bye, bad-for-you foods (at least in California)

I've been meaning to post something about California becoming the first state to ban the use of trans fats--which are known to increase the risk of heart disease--by restaurants and other food facilities, but haven't gotten around to it yet. My aplogies doe the delay.  (By the way, New York City has already done adopted a similar ban, as have Philadelphia, Stamford, Conn., and Montgomery County, Md.)

A Twitter feed i received from the New York Times today prompted me to get on the ball. The Times headline: "Los Angeles Stages a Fast Food Intervention"; the lead 'graph: "A new weapon in the battle against obesity was rolled out last month when the Los Angeles City Council decided to stop new fast food restaurants from opening in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods." A fast food business is defined as any stand-alone restaurant that dispenses food, to stay or to go; has a

limited menu; has items prepared in advance or prepared or heated quickly; doesn't have table services; and the food served in disposable wrapping or containers.

It appears that the ban may have more to do with urban planning than health issues--according to the Times, the goal is to keep South Central L.A. "from being swallowed up by drive-though fast food restaurants." But the one year moratorium raises questions about when public health concerns should trump personal choice in eating habits. Some fear that the law will keep out healthy eating options that can be differentiated from fast food as food that is served fast. Should "fast food" made from nutritious ingredients be swept up by the ban, too? Arguably, that is not the intention of the City Council; the city's director of planning will be the one to decide which food vendors will be allowed to continue to operate. What's your favorite healthy fast food?