The war against trans fat registered a major victory yesterday as Kentucky Fried Chicken — whose main course is deep fried — announced that it would remove the artery-clogging substance from its fryers.
KFC said it would replace partially hydrogenated soybean oil with a type of soybean oil that does not contain trans fat at its 5,500 restaurants in the United States.
The conversion, which came after two years of testing, is expected to be completed by April. While trans fat will be eliminated from KFC’s chicken and its other fried products, it will remain in its biscuits, potpies and some desserts because a good alternative has not yet been found.
Officials at KFC, a subsidiary of Yum Brands of Louisville, Ky., said the change in cooking oils would have no impact on the taste of its food.
By getting rid of trans fat in its cooking oil, KFC follows the lead of Wendy’s International, the hamburger chain, which announced in June that it was eliminating trans fat from the cooking oil used at its United States restaurants.
Public health advocates hailed KFC’s decision as a major step in efforts to rid the American diet of trans fat. New York City and Chicago are considering regulations that would ban artificial trans fat from restaurants and many food companies have eliminated trans fat from their products. Article continues....
