What is Digg?257 Comments
- nreynolds, on 10/12/2007, -46/+109instead of great news, not that great news.
sure. trans fats are bad for you, but it's not the restaurant's fault. Food with trans fat in it is ok every once in a while and it tastes good. It's the person's responsibility to stay in good health, not the city's. This restricts freedom of expression by limiting what creative, good tasting foods you can make.
Leave the decision about what you put in your body to yourself, or your mom, not to the city. I think I'm going to go buy a big tub of trans fat and dump it all over NY. - revmonkey, on 10/12/2007, -9/+62wow. kevin rose is actually gettin dugg down.
anyways, does this mean that there's not gonna be anymore fat italian mafia pizzeria's? damn... - maiku00, on 10/12/2007, -36/+87Are you kidding? This is ***** fabulous news.
Transfats are ***** POISON for you. there are many cheap and much healthier alternatives. Many places in Europe banned that ***** a long time ago. Restaurants only use this ***** because its cheap to buy poison, and why change if nobody makes you if you are making money anyways?
Anyone that would say this is bad news clearly has no flipping clue what transfats even are. - Jamminn, on 10/12/2007, -7/+39"We have a right to eat, drink, or inject a substance--any substance--not because we are sick and want it to cure us, nor because a government supported medical authority claims it will be good for us, but simply because the government--as our servant rather than our master--hasn't the right to meddle in our private dietary and drug affairs." - Thomas Szasz
- kevinrose, on 10/12/2007, -7/+32@nreynolds
"sure. trans fats are bad for you, but it's not the restaurant's fault." -- it's NOT?? They are the ones serving me trans fats -- AND not even telling me. How can I choose not to eat them when I have no idea if they are in my food or not?
Listen, if you want your trans fats, be my guest - have at 'em. BUT, as a restaurant customer I should be ability to know when I'm consuming them. - greymaxcat, on 10/12/2007, -12/+38This is stupid. If a woman has the right to choose what comes out of her body, why can't I decide what goes into mine? Get the government outa my life and outa my way.
- fronkman, on 10/12/2007, -17/+42this is really good news. heart disease kills more americans every year than ANYTHING ELSE. this includes terrorists, bird flu, cancer, AIDS, war, airplane crashes, lightning strikes, gunshot wounds, drunk drivers and e. coli.
trans fats are toxic deadly substances that our body lacks the enzymes to metabolize. they serve no purpose being in our food supply. they are only there because trans fat does not degrade over time so the restaurants can make enormous batches of food in mexico and send it here without it spoiling first rather than making it fresh. extra profits for companies should not come at the cost of american lives. - jgc7, on 10/12/2007, -14/+35Sure transfats are dangerous, but I fundamentally disagree that the government should have the power to force restaurants not to sell a perfectly legal substance. I wish they just said,
"hey, either don't sell trans-fats, or disclose the amount clearly on the menu. Our job is to make sure people have the right information at the right time to make the best decision for themselves."
Instead the message is:
"New Yorkers are too dumb to make appropriate decisions for themselves, therefore, we, must outlaw trans-fats to protect our moronic citizenry" - lordmetroid, on 10/12/2007, -3/+24Fast food can be done without transfats! However in Sweden some fast food restaurants uses "we use no transfats" as a selling point. If this regulation in fact remove a piece of the free market even though it causes a lot of harm. I am sure that if food-businesses started to market these things the rest would follow as they would probably sell more.
- culebra, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19I work at a restaurant called Jason's Deli. Last year we were one of the first major chains to remove all trans-fat and Partially Hydrogenated Oils from our entire menu. The whole process took about 2 years.
FYI, be advised. Just because the package says "0 g Trans Fat" does not mean it does not have transfats. It just means that it has less than 1 gram of transfat per serving. Look in the ingredients. If you see partially hydrogenated ANYTHING steer clear. - HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -11/+27Lame.
Labelling is fine. Banning trans fats is ridiculous.
I say this, and I've been using butter instead of margarine for 5 years.
No to the mommy state. - Raesear, on 10/12/2007, -12/+27@ maiku
The bad news is that it's one more regulation that stops me from living my own life. If I want to eat something bad for me, I damn well have the right to do it. Granted, nutritional information should be easily available, but that does not equate to the government telling me what I can eat.
It's poison, I know. Yay. Alcohol and cigarettes are poison. Should I be forced to refrain from using them? If yes, why? So I can live forever? We all die. No amount of soy milk and herbal supplements will change that. So why not enjoy life while we have the chance.
Give the people the nutritional information and let them eat what they want. - maiku00, on 10/12/2007, -28/+43why ban asbestos? if I want to line my house with poison and get lung cancer, its my own damn choice! stop taking my freedom away! idiots.
- Raesear, on 10/12/2007, -7/+22@maiku
Asbestos is a different subject and an irrelevant comparison. Transfats do not float off of food into the bodies of nearby citizens. A conscious choice must be made to consume them. Asbestos poisons others as well as yourself and removes their choice in the matter.
Information and choice is necessary for a free society to remain free. - Hale, on 10/12/2007, -6/+20Thanks, New York, for doing your part to help dumb people live longer.
- Rosco, on 10/12/2007, -7/+21Why do I have the feeling a lot of the people who were screaming mad about the loss of personal freedom with the Patriot Act think that the loss of this personal freedom is okay? Boil it down to the simplest of terms, the government is doing away with your freedoms. Whether its masked as being your protector from terrorism, or protector from clogged arteries. It is not what this country was founded on.
- Raesear, on 10/12/2007, -6/+20@ maiku
You seem to be very concerned about MY dietary habits. Which, like the rest of my private life, is none of your or the government's business.
Your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins. - jstevewhite, on 10/12/2007, -6/+19@Jaminn & @gtapro91
It's not a matter of personal freedom. It's already been pointed out that trans-fats don't "taste good" nor add *anything* valuable to the food it's in *except* reduce cost. As we know with many other substances, manufacturers often will not change until forced to, no matter how many people complain.
And before the Randite Pie-In-The-Sky "True Free Market" types start spouting Ayn's *****, let's keep in mind that millions - literally millions - of people don't want trans-fats in their food *at all*, but because it's cheap, and the restaurant's *right* to include the poison (It's not marked GRAS [Generally Recognized As Safe] by the FDA, incidentally) in their food, one who cares about such thing is forced to either ingest the crap or completely avoid any food they didn't prepare themselves. Frankly, the FDA should ban trans-fats today.
For y'all who really want to be free to eat poison, I would have to add that we're all paying the price for it. Everyone's health insurance rates are climbing due to increased heart disease, and trans-fats are the immediate prime suspect. I don't oppose this ban any more than I would oppose a ban on including arsenic in food. - WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -9/+21@maiku00
"because even microbes won't eat that poisonous *****."
I've heard the same thing. The reason why margarine, and crisco, and....twinkies....have such a long shelf life is because of the trans fats, which even bacteria refuses to eat.
Trans fats are so low on the food chain...they are not even on the food chain.
I've heard that rats will not even eat margarine!
Only humans who totally lack awareness or basic good-health self-discipline, will eat such garbage.
And that, only because they are pwned (maybe you kiddies will understand that)
by the sleazy, overpaid executives in the trashy food manufacturing industry, especially McDonalds, and similar junk food outlets.
They profit while giving you heart disease and blocked arteries.
And then people imagine they are so free, while they are completely at the mercy of these merciless, rich bastards who don't care about them at all.
And the idiots just 'bend over' and take it, having completely lost touch with actual reality. - WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -7/+17@revmonkey
"anyways, does this mean that there's not gonna be anymore fat italian mafia pizzeria's? "
I am pretty sure trans fats are usually not in any of the ingredients in pizza.
Any respectable pizza place uses olive oil. - CircleFusion, on 10/12/2007, -7/+17@jgc7
"I fundamentally disagree that the government should have the power to force restaurants not to sell a perfectly legal substance."
For a while now, the FDA has prevented the use of dangerous (though technically legal to use in other ways) substances in packaged foods in the U.S. Are you against that practice as well? What is the difference?
I think the problem here is that people don't see the danger in Trans fats, and so they feel like this is just someone in power forcing their personal preference on everyone else. This is actually about helping to save people's lives.
People aren't taking the danger of trans fats seriously. - TruthElixirX, on 10/12/2007, -12/+22If I want to kill myself with trans fats let me.
- maiku00, on 10/12/2007, -18/+28Transfats don't make your food any better, or have some kind of wonderful taste. They are used because they are dirt cheap and does not expire easily, because even microbes won't eat that poisonous *****. It is extremely bad for you, and there are PLENTY of cheap and much healthier alternatives.
Digg is full of ***** idiots who don't have a god damn clue what transfats even are, whining about how their "civil liberties are being eroded". TRANSFATS and CIVIL LIBERTY?
I think I'm going to go throw up. I guess they should have kept it around for a bit longer to kill off all these ***** idiots around here who are seemingly so adamant to consume a needless poison. - Satanael, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12I live in Texas... I can safely predict that we will be the last state to conform to this trend...
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -8/+17This is terrible. They should have legislated for "TRANS FATS" in bold print in menus. This is totalitarianism at its finest.
- fronkman, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12did you fail chemistry? did you bother to read the wikipedia article. olive oil is primarily poly-unsaturated fat and butter is saturated fat. saturated fat is NEVER a transfat, as the saturated bonds are always at 180 degrees. the angles in poly-unsaturated fats like olive oil are all cis, as are all fats in nature. this does not affect olive oil, butter, canola oil or hell, even lard.
all it means is that companies have to stop putting artificially created fats into their food. - krinthekuz, on 09/16/2008, -3/+12the FDA is being lame about this. "The ban will not apply to food served in a manufacturer's original packaging or to foods that contain less than 0.5 grams of trans fats per serving." almost no processed food in the grocery stores is trans fat free, but it's all advertised as having "No Trans Fat!!!!" because they just adjust the serving size to be the max size they can without reaching .5g trans fat. when you look on the side, it says serving size: 1 cookie, or 5 chips. real people eat a lot more than that. we need better regulation of that. in europe, they have all serving sizes in like 100 mL/gram/whatever increments... and that's pointless because salad dressing is a perfect example of ineptitude. no one uses that much in 1 serving.
what they should do is put out a full bowl of whatever it is, and get 1000 different people of varying ages, sizes, and whatever, and tell them eat however much you want. take the average (in grams or oz), and that's the serving size for that class of food - not what corporate america markets it as.
that would be the last removal of obfuscation on a label. if you cant understand one then, you're a ***** moron. - turpenine, on 10/12/2007, -5/+13@nreynolds, is bans most trans fats, not all.
- diggRoss, on 10/12/2007, -9/+17A lot of you are missing the point. They didn't ban fat, they banned trans fat. It isn't an issue of "getting off your ass" or exercising more or anything like that. Trans fat doesn't taste better than the healthier alternatives, it simply allows companies to produce food that lasts longer and thus saves them a few dollars. So before you start crying over our lost freedoms, do a little research.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfats
This is a good thing. Your food will still taste the same, it'll just be less likely to kill you. - maiku00, on 10/12/2007, -5/+12its the SAME ***** THING. Transfats don't make your food any better, or have some kind of wonderful taste. They are used because they are dirt cheap and does not expire easily, because even microbes won't eat that poisonous *****. It is extremely bad for you, and there are PLENTY of cheap and much healthier alternatives.
Digg is full of ***** idiots who don't have a god damn clue what transfats even are. - RichPowers, on 10/12/2007, -5/+12Requiring eateries to label trans fat makes sense; how else can we make informed decisions with information? But banning it is downright stupid.
Nanny state FTL - TheNik, on 10/12/2007, -6/+13Cool, can we absolve freedom of speech next, too? :D
- vyking, on 10/12/2007, -8/+15Wow, looks like people are Digg are big transfat fans. Well guess what? They are poorly informed about the subject. Transfats affect taste in no way! Just the cost to produce the food. Maybe diggers should next start backing legislation to bring back leaded paint and leaded gas?
Once you look at the facts you will see this is nothing but a hidden poison in food that adds nothing but shelf life. If all restaurants had to list what foods contained trans fats I would be ok with that too, but I like the ban much better.
And this is not like smoking. First smoking is only legal for adults. Second, we have warning labels with the health risks listed on the packs of cigarettes. That is all I really ask, how is providing information to the consumer ever bad? - majoogybobber, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11The obvious implausibility of your comment aside, the comparison is unbalanced. When people buy cigarrettes they know what they're getting into: there are warning labels and there is plenty of stigma against smoking in general. Not the case for trans fats. Most people probably won't get any sort of notification in a restaurant of which foods have them or the extent of how bad it is for them.
- maiku00, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10this is not a banning of fat
good god, digg is full of ***** god damn IDIOTS - fyten, on 10/12/2007, -9/+16i have to agree with most people. just a continuing erosion of civil liberties.
i wonder how many people out there are for legalizing pot but have applauded this. - Buelldozer, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Stop thinking like Slashdot and start thinking like High School. The digg system is used, mostly, for expressing your opinion and drowning the ones you don't agree with!
- dime, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10Ever notice that anytime anyone prefaces a comment with "What's next...", it's always followed by the most rediculous hyperbole imaginable.
The FDA regulates how many fly eggs are allowed on any single frozen pizza. What's next... MICROCHIPS IN OUR BRAINS? - maiku00, on 10/12/2007, -6/+13margarine takes over 2 weeks to go through your body. transfats are poison.
- NoTiG, on 10/12/2007, -11/+18good point. Another way of saying it though... trans fats are in our food supply because even microbes are not dumb enough to eat it (hence not spoil)
- signal15, on 10/12/2007, -8/+15I can't believe people are bitching about this. The only reason trans fats are in your food is because they keep longer than regular fats. It's a cost saving issue. By using oils that are not hydrogenated you don't get the negative health effects, AND your food actually tastes better.
Your body cannot break down trans fats, any they go straight to your arteries and gut. They raise your bad cholesterol level an astonishing amount also.
This law is preventing the food industry from serving you something that is not fit for human consumption. New oils have been developed that keep just as long as hydrogenated oils, but without the hydrogenation. There is absolutely no reason at all to use hydrogenated oils anymore, and it would do us good for the FDA to put a blanket ban on all trans fats. New Zealand has done it, and so have several european countries.
I haven't purchased *anything* with trans fats in it for the past 4 years. My last cholesterol test was 80. 60 good cholesterol, 20 bad. The doctor said he's never ever seen anyone with a more perfect cholesterol. I do eat fatty foods too, I just stay away from anything that has PHO's listed in the ingredients, I just won't buy it, or even taste it. It's very easy now to get the foods you like without trans fats, but that wasn't the case 4 years ago.
So stop your bitching. This law prevents restaurants from serving you ***** that's not fit for your consumption and raises the quality of the food. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10trans fats is one of the absolute worst things you can eat, it is basically a dietary poison. the government has banned lead from being in our foods, why is nobody complaining? Because it is completely and horridly terrible for you, and you have no choice but to eat it if you eat at a restaurant if they had it, much like trans fats.
Trans fats should be banned outright as there are much safer alternatives to it that do not cost more and taste the same. It is not fair that we should have to suffer eating poison just because it is more convieneint for restaurants.
If you are opposed to this ban, you do not realize the extreme negative health effects it can have on you. - fronkman, on 10/12/2007, -5/+10you need to start reading medical journals. you talk about all of the people who will lose their jobs. how much to they add to the US economy? i haven't a clue, but i am 100% certain that it is less than the $394 BILLION that heart disease costs american society.
other than a VERY small number of people who have congenital hyperlipidemias, the overwhelming majority of the heart disease are caused by DIET. let us fix that. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -16/+22I heart NY
(I tried "I *less than three* NY", but all it showed was "I") - smitty22, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8I wonder if the title for this article had been "NY bans use of food additive known to be a slow acting poison" would have evoked the same level of disgruntlement. Upon Sinclair showed us that the U.S. food industry will give us the worst food possible if it is more profitable, and trans-fats are another example of that trend.
I can understand restaurant owners being upset, they're the ones who'll have to implement this and pass the cost onto consumers and risk lost sales. I would hazard to guess that 99.9999% of the changes won't be noticeable. The same foods will be available, just made with a different type of oil/fat which is more likely to be more expensive.
For the rest of us, we get more natural food that is less of a health risk; which would be teh awesome for me because I do care about this and eat out much less as a result; it would be nice to be able to get an order of Buffalo wings knowing that they weren't made with this poison. - dime, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7A better analogy would be lead paint.
You don't actually need lead in paint, and non-lead alternatives are equal to their lead counterparts. The difference is that one is a toxic health hazard, and the other just isn't good for you ;p - maiku00, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6its called the logical fallacy of the slippery slope
used by idiots to convince idiots - lovek, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7I love that the "slippery slope" argument can truly be used for anything, as proven by this article :)
- maiku00, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9people who smoke know what they are getting themselves in to. most people dont have a flying ***** clue about what transfats are... a fact that is self evident after reading most of the comments from brainless ***** here
- UltimaNut, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8All of those who are bitching about the governent controlling your lives and quoting this that and the other "liberty or death" stuff want to step up to the plate?? Go ahead. Eat all the crap you want and destroy your bodies. But DONT YOU DARE ***** ASK THE GOVERNMENT FOR MONEY FROM MY ***** TAXES TO PAY FOR YOUR DRUGS TO KEEP YOUR FAT , ARTERY CLOGGED ASSES ALIVE FOR ONE SECOND.
You want to smoke, eat poison and destroy yourselves fine. Dam well better have a good medical plan and dont even think about asking for medicaid. Oh , whats tha you say? Your 60 and your all ***** up cause of all the ***** you ate and smoked. Well guess what. Guess your gonna die cause theres the other side of the fence who are picking up guns and are pissed at the governmrnt for taking our tax dollars to keep you sorry asses alive after you destroyed yourself.
Ban this ***** and burn town the tobacco farms. Im tired of paying for idiots to stay alive. -
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