New recipes are losing the trans fat

WOODMERE, Ohio — The nation’s food companies are stirring up new recipes for everything from Oreos to SpaghettiOs to get rid of trans fat, the artery-clogging ingredient that must be listed on food labels next year.

The companies say they’re promoting good health, but they’re also looking ahead to the new federal rule and new dietary guidelines urging consumers away from trans fats.

Trans fats have been in the nation’s food supply for decades, giving products a long shelf life and making goodies like chips and cookies oh so yummy.

They are formed when liquid oils turn into solid fats and they are generally listed on foods as partially hydrogenated oils. Grab a bag of cookies from the snack food aisle and chances are trans fats are there.

But maybe not for long. The Food and Drug Administration is ordering trans fats to be listed on food labels by January 2006. The FDA says trans fat, like saturated fat, increases the risk of heart disease.

A few years ago, Sarit Zamir was like many consumers — clueless about the subject.

“I used to eat junk food a few years ago. We just didn’t know,” said the 32-year-old mother of three.

Now, Zamir goes out of her way to shop at a store that promises 100 percent trans fat-free foods. She says that since making the change in her family’s diet, she’s noticed a difference in her children’s health, behavior and ability to get a good night’s sleep.

“I don’t touch trans fat at all,” she said, her cart filled with soy milk, cage-free eggs and pure rice bran.

It took several years for the Wild Oats Natural Marketplace where Zamir shops to remove all the trans fat from its shelves, said Mandi Kelley, marketing coordinator of the store in tiny Woodmere Village outside of Cleveland.

“There were a lot of companies we had to coax into changing their ingredients,” she said.

Eliminating trans fat isn’t as simple as removing partially hydrogenated oils and substituting another oil — not if you want to keep the flavor.

“It takes smart engineering, smart chemistry,” said James Chung, president of Reach Advisors Inc., a Boston-based marketing strategy and research firm.

“There’s a reason why consumers like partially hydrogenated oils. Let’s face it — fat tastes good.”

Still, Chung expects to see mainstream companies gain market share with trans fat-free products, up until the point that most have removed it.

Campbell Soup Co. has revised some products and is working on a few more, including some varieties of Chunky soup and SpaghettiOs with meatballs.