Target: Trans Fats

By Unmesh Kher

There are doubtless many Oreophiles who would call a project to improve America's favorite cookie a form of heresy. None of them work for Peter Wilson, senior director of technology at Kraft Foods. Wilson and his team of food scientists and engineers have invested 30,000 hours in trying to convert the Oreo we know and love into one that tastes just like the original but is considerably less likely to clog snackers' arteries. The challenge: rid the recipe of its trans-fatty acids, a component of the fats as essential to the cookie's cream-infused crunch and texture as the circle is to its unbitten form. "We've tested over 200 recipes in 100 different trials, across 16 manufacturing lines," says Wilson. "The formulation is critical."

Wilson's exertions have been matched by those of his counterparts across the packaged-food industry. A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rule goes into effect on Jan. 1 requiring nutrition labels to include the trans-fat content of packaged foods in which it exceeds half a gram per serving. Eager to pre-empt the requirement, manufacturers--from ABC Bakers, maker of Girl Scout Cookies, to Campbell Soup Co.--have been scrambling to come up with trans-fat- free recipes for their products.

Meanwhile, an anti-trans-fat movement led by public-interest groups is making waves in the $476 billion restaurant industry, pestering such fast-food giants as McDonald's and Taco Bell. New York City this summer became the first metropolis to ask its restaurants to (voluntarily) remove the offending oil from their dishes.

That, as many a manufacturer will attest, is easier said than done. Trans fats are byproducts in hydrogenated oils--whose constituent fats have been chemically altered by the addition of hydrogen atoms. Those oils are loved by restaurateurs because they can be repeatedly reheated without breaking down and by food processors because they're resistant to rancidity. They also provide much of the comfort in comfort food, accounting for everything from the flavor of chips to the flaky layering of croissants to the stubborn moistness of muffins.

Researchers have known since at least the 1990s that trans fats are doubly bad for the heart. They boost bad-cholesterol (LDL) levels and depress good-cholesterol (HDL) levels in the blood. The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that processed foods and oils account for 80% of the national intake of trans fats. The FDA suggests you cut down as much as possible on the fats. One study concluded that eliminating hydrogenated oils could prevent up to 100,000 premature coronary deaths a year.

PepsiCo, whose Frito-Lay snack foods represent 62% of its North American business, in September 2002 became one of the first food processors to cut trans fats, starting with its Doritos, Tostitos and Cheetos lines. The company says the conversion, which involved modifying 187 production lines and required 250 analytical tests of the reformulated snacks, trimmed $22 million from its bottom line in 2003. Taking the trans fats out of a product without affecting taste is often far more complex and costly than developing a new one from scratch. That's partly why Kraft had to be pushed to speed up its efforts. The nudge came from a lawsuit filed by British-born lawyer and trans-fat crusader Stephen Joseph, founder of BanTransFats.com.

Joseph, who believes trans fats in margarine helped kill his stepfather, sued Kraft in May 2003 to stop it from marketing Oreos to elementary school students. The suit drew hoots of derision from tort reformers, even though Joseph withdrew it days later, after Kraft announced it would banish trans fats from the Oreo and then committed to doing so across its product lines. It has succeeded in converting 73% of its cookies and crackers, including Triscuits. But so far, the Oreo project has put on store shelves only low-fat, sugar-free and "golden" varieties of the cookie, which taste nothing like the original, which is still sold. Kraft says it has found a fix, but the trans-fat-free original Oreo won't debut until the end of the year.

Kraft isn't alone in having suffered technical difficulties. Food giant ConAgra, which successfully produces trans-fat-free margarine spreads, has found stick margarine an intractable challenge. And trans-fat-free pie crusts, says director of product development Patricia Verduin, were as dense and chewy "as wonton wrappers." After 18 months, ConAgra has managed to strip several of its products of the offending fats, most notably its Kid Cuisine line. The customer response? Not a word. "The best reaction," notes Verduin, "is no reaction."

Some chain restaurants have had a tougher time. McDonald's promised in September 2002 under heavy criticism that it would change the oil in its fryers. (Buyer beware: a medium order of French fries contains 4 g of trans fats.) When that hadn't happened a year later, Joseph sued the chain for inadequately publicizing the delay. McDonald's agreed to settle with Joseph in February, promising to give $7,500 each to BanTransFats.com and a co-plaintiff and $7 million to the American Heart Association. It also agreed to spend $1.5 million posting temporary signs at its 13,000 franchises and publishing ads admitting its frying oil remains infused with trans fats.

McDonald's spokesman Bill Whitman says the chain has been testing new oils and has had some success cutting trans fats in its chicken dishes. But it still has a long way to go. Burger King seems in no particular hurry to address the issue. Spokeswoman Lauren Hammann maintains that trans fats have "never been an issue" with customers but adds that the company is looking into the question. Yum! Brands has been testing oil blends for Taco Bell and KFC (Pizza Hut has always been trans fat free), but Yum! senior vice president Jonathan Blum says the scarcity of alternative oils has hampered efforts.

Certain canola, cottonseed, sunflower and corn oils could substitute for hydrogenated oils. But they're in short supply, since hydrogenated soy oil is cheap and has long been the industrial standard. Some 85% of the roughly 19 billion lbs. of edible oils Americans consume each year comes from soy. About 10 billion lbs. of that soy oil gets hydrogenated, according to Mark Matlock, senior vice president of food research at Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). But alternatives are on the horizon. ADM, for example, has developed oils that not only behave like hydrogenated oils but also, Matlock says, are relatively healthy. The biotech giant Monsanto, meanwhile, is working on a variety of seeds for a stable soy oil. The first non-genetically-engineered batch of those will produce only 80 million lbs. of oil this year, according to Robert Reeves, executive director of the industry's Institute of Shortening and Edible Oils. But by 2008, they could meet a third of the roughly 6 billion--lb. annual demand for frying oils.

But does the average American diner really care? The Hartman Group, a Bellevue, Wash., consultancy, has found that although a majority of consumers have heard about trans fats--mainly because of Joseph's Oreo lawsuit--only about 14% are likely to actively avoid them. Charlie Lousignont, an executive at Fazoli's restaurant chain, based in Lexington, Ky., which cut trans fats from most of its menu last April, points out that consumers tend to make choices based on taste, not virtue. "The ultimate food product," he says, "is low in calories, carbohydrates and sodium and has no trans fats. That leaves you with only a handful of things--like a carrot." Someday he might be able to add to that Spartan menu a reformulated Oreo.

--With reporting by Jeremy Caplan / New York; Matt Kettmann / Santa Barbara; Kristin Kloberdanz / Chicago and Barbara Liston / Orlando

With reporting by Jeremy Caplan / New York, Matt Kettmann / Santa Barbara, Kristin Kloberdanz / Chicago, Barbara Liston / Orlando