Minnesota ban on trans fats? The skids aren't greased

New York City is banning trans fats in its restaurants, and Chicago is considering a similar move. Is Minnesota next?

Not likely, city officials said Tuesday. Even local restaurateurs who've stopped using the oil and public health advocates said they'd rather see better self-policing than an outright ban.

The New York ban announced Tuesday will phase out artificial trans fats in city restaurants over the next 18 months. In recent years, New York has been the first to outlaw other safety hazards such as lead paint and indoor smoking, bans that ultimately spread across the nation.

But the ban on trans fats -- created by the partial hydrogenation of vegetable oils and considered an important cause of heart disease -- might not spread as easily.

"I hope not," said City Council President Barb Johnson, when asked if the council would discuss following New York's lead. "I just think it's such a reach trying to get into people's dietary habits."

The city of Minneapolis has no plans to ban trans fats, Johnson said. The state Department of Public Health said it knew of no statewide measures under discussion.

Nor has St. Paul. "Oh God, not that I'm aware of," said Kathy Lantry, president of the St. Paul City Council. "When I saw the story my husband said, 'Maybe we should have fries while we can.' "

Even Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, known to readers of Men's Fitness magazine as the healthiest mayor in America, said he would oppose a ban.

"I am passionately in favor of advocating in favor of healthier diets and passionately opposed to governments mandating them," he said. Rybak, who supported the city's smoking ban, said if restaurants were required to put nutritional information on menus, the requirement should come from state law, not city ordinance.

Minneapolis City Council Member Paul Ostrow said a city trans fat ban would be unfair to local restaurants.

"We need an aggressive public health campaign, but we also need to balance that with our sense of personal liberty," he said. A ban in Minneapolis would only push restaurant-goers to the suburbs, he said.

Though no one seems ready to duplicate the move by New York City's Board of Health, plenty of people will be watching the ban unfold over the coming months, said Gretchen Musicant, commissioner of the Minneapolis Health Department.

"We're not ruling it out but we haven't given specific consideration to it at this time," she said.

The Minnesota Public Health Association plans to watch what's happening in New York City as well, said Dave Johnson, the association's former president. "Some restaurants out there have already voluntarily eliminated trans fats, so I'd look to that as sort of a model that it can be done."

That suits restaurant chefs like Mike Phillips, chef at the Craftsman restaurant on Lake Street, which doesn't use partially hydrogenated oil.

He said he'd rather see restaurants police themselves. "I don't know that it's a great idea to start banning things in restaurants. That kind of scares me, because where does it end?"

Bruno Oakman, chef at Willie's Wine Bar, said the Loring Park restaurant went trans-fat-free the day it opened this year.

"We're a complete scratch kitchen. I've always used olive oil or butter or things of that nature in my food, so getting away from trans fats wasn't that hard to do."

The National Restaurants Association issued a statement Tuesday blasting the New York City ban, saying it puts undue pressure on the restaurant industry. Even critics of trans fats were concerned: The American Heart Association said the ban might ask too much too quickly, forcing restaurants to use alternatives like palm oil, which is high in saturated fats.

Lisa Harnack, associate professor at the division of epidemiology and community health at the University of Minnesota, said she would prefer that restaurants be required to inform customers about the food they're serving. A mandate to replace trans fats could be difficult, she said, since the rush to replace trans fats has cut the supply of replacement oils.

The debate left at least one Minneapolis City Council member wondering about the city's food habits.

"Since we just passed that motion on Porky's, I'm not sure where we are about all of this," Council Member Diane Hofstede said.

Matt McKinney • 612-673-7329 • mckinney@startribune.com