N.Y. keeps cannoli, drops trans fats

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By David B. Caruso

NEW YORK (AP) | Making cannoli is serious business in New York. It's a dessert so tempting that even a hit man in the “Godfather” couldn't leave a box behind.

But even the most respected chefs of this and other pastries are being ordered to make changes by Tuesday - the day New York's trans-fat ban takes full effect.

New York is the first American city to adopt such a stringent rule.

Starting this week, the ban extends to almost all prepared food in restaurants, bakeries, cafeterias, salad bars and food carts. There will be a three-month grace period before big fines are slapped on violators. The artery-clogging substance was first banned from cooking oils last year.

Chefs who relied on trans fats to make their pie crusts flaky, their crackers crispy and their muffins moist have worked overtime finding substitute ingredients. They have burned through hundreds of gallons of oil, shortening and margarine trying to retool old recipes without damaging flavor, texture or color.

Yet, with the deadline looming, it appears that few, if any foods, are getting whacked.

Fast-food giants from Taco Bell say they have banished trans fats without having to drop a single item from their menu.

Baking-supply companies have introduced a host of replacements for the partially hydrogenated vegetable oils that are the biggest source of trans fats. Not even Crisco is made of Crisco anymore. The company reformulated all of its products last year to have “zero grams of trans fat per serving.”

The cannoli has not been spared either.

New York's biggest maker of fried dough shells for the classic Italian dessert reports that after four months of sometimes frustrating experimentation, cooks finally produced a trans-fat-free replacement that is just as crisp and delicious as the original.

“There is a little difference in taste,” acknowledged Queens for 85 years.

But, he added, “If you weren't familiar with the shell beforehand, you'd never know the difference.”

City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden, who launched the anti-trans-fat initiative, said it is too early to tell what percentage of the city's restaurants will fully comply by Tuesday. But he said his department had heard relatively few complaints so far from frustrated chefs.

“We think it is going extremely well,” he said.

Those who reject the ban and get caught face a $2,000 fine starting Oct. 1.

Americans have been baking with vegetable shortening loaded with trans fats since the invention of Crisco. Unlike frying oils, whose main purpose is to conduct heat, shortening is a major contributor to taste and texture.