NEW YORK (AP) - City officials are promising to be gentle when it comes to enforcing the first-in-the-nation ban on trans fats, which restaurants will have more than a year to rid from their food. But the food industry fears the ban—approved last week—will lead to hefty fines against kitchens that inadvertently fail to remove the artificial fats from every item on the menu.
Restaurant owners say the city has been increasingly tough in policing code violations in recent years, and some in the industry don't expect that will change.
"They feel that these people are out to whack these restaurants, and it's a cash cow for that purpose," said Richard Lipsky, of the Neighborhood Retail Alliance.
City officials strongly deny inspectors will start snooping through pantry shelves simply to run up fines. The health department is pledging "technical support" to cooks before the first part of the ban takes effect next summer.
"We want to help them comply," said Christina Chang, the chief of staff to Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden.
About one in five restaurants in New York, once famous for looking the other way on restaurant sanitation, now fails its annual inspection. Thousands of those that pass still pay fines for infractions such as mouse droppings, poor cooking temperatures and improperly covered light bulbs. Over the last two fiscal years, violators paid $37.6 million.
"It's possible to pass an inspection, and still be fined as much as $2,000 or more for minor violations," said Charles Hunt, executive vice president of the New York Restaurant Association.
Some of the city's best known kitchens have flunked inspections in the past three years, including top-rated French restaurants Bouley and Daniel, the celebrated dining room at the Four Seasons, Peter Luger steakhouse and the Carnegie Deli. All of those have since been given a passing grade.
The new trans fat rule bans food containing more than trace amounts of artificial trans fats. Another change requires about 2,000 fast-food joints to put calorie information on their menus.
Plans call for inspectors to begin enforcing the new rules next summer after an outreach campaign that will include the establishment of a help line staffed by experts who can offer tips to chefs trying to change the way they cook.
The health department is also contemplating training sessions for restaurant staff.
Small amounts of trans fatty acids occur naturally in a variety of animal products, but New York's ban only applies to the artificial variety, most commonly listed on food labels as partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.
For restaurants and bakeries, that primarily involves cooking oil used in some deep friers and the shortening in some crackers, cookies, cakes and breads.
Experts say replacing frying oil is the easier of the two tasks, and restaurants have been given until July to switch to a substitute. Finding a replacement for shortenings in baked goods could be tougher, and cooks have until mid-2008 to alter those recipes.
Inspectors will start citing restaurants for violations in July, with penalties ranging from $200 to $2,000 per offense. Restaurants will get a three-month grace period during which no fines will be issued.
"This is not going to be, like, a 'gotcha' thing," said Dr. Elliot Marcus, associate commissioner for the health department's bureau of food safety. "What we are trying to do is ensure compliance ... We aren't looking to generate revenue for the city."
Restaurant groups initially feared crippling fines when the city implemented its ban on smoking in restaurants and bars, and for a while their fears seemed to be realized.
Today, Marcus said, "we have about a 99 percent compliance rate" on smoking.
"I have no reason to suspect it won't be exactly the same" with trans fats, he said.
