CSPI Chides Chicken Chain About Trans Fat Use

WASHINGTONA nutrition advocacy group, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) called out franchise owners of Church's Chicken restaurants, Atlanta, Ga., for their use of artificial trans fats in meal preparations. Church's uses a trans-fat-free frying oil in California, New York City and other jurisdictions where the use of artificial trans fat is curbed by law or local regulation.

Reportedly Church's told CSPI that company-owned outlets use trans-fat-free oils in all of its locations, but franchisee-owned stores do have the option of using artificial trans fat. CSPI tabulated trans fat totals in a typical meal to report a consumer could get up to 15 grams or more of trans fat in a single restaurant visit. For example, a meal containing a Spicy Leg, Spicy Thigh and a Honey-Butter Biscuit would contain 17 grams of trans fateight times as much as the American Heart Association's (AHA) recommended daily maximum. (That meal also contains 1,810 calories, 25 grams of saturated fat, and 3,690 mg of sodium.)

The Institute of Medicine recommends consuming as little trans fat as possible, and the American Heart Association recommends limiting trans fat to a maximum of two grams per day. In 2004, CSPI urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban partially hydrogenated oil.

Fried chicken may never be a health food, but fry it in partially hydrogenated oil and youve basically weaponized it," said CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson.  At this point, Churchs is standing almost alone in the chain restaurant world, while its responsible competitors, such as KFC, have eliminated artificial trans fat."

Besides asking FDA to ban partially hydrogenated oils, CSPI has actively encouraged food companies to move away from artificial trans fat. The advocacy group in the past has sued Burger Kind and KFC, threatened a lawsuit against Starbucks for its pastry formulation and recently criticized a menu item at Long John Silver's restaurant chain, prompting the company to promise a change.