i actually think that personal liberties were attacked when companies replaced natural fats in products with artificial ones -- for the personal gain at people's health expense, plus didn't much inform the public about dangers associated with that product. yes, the "ingredients" part listed hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils in small letters on the label, but 90% of the population had no idea what the heck it means, and most people still don't know that these are trans-fats. until last year the companies were obliged to indicate the amount of saturated fat on the label, but not the amount of trans-fat. so, for decades most people had no idea what kind of crap they were consuming. i noticed one interesting thing -- since the new law went into effect last year, and companies were forced to list the amount of trans-fats on the product label not just by ingredient name (which most people cannot recognize, of course), but explicitly saying "Trans-Fat -- so many gramms", most manufacturers stopped using trans-fats altogether, cz once people became aware of what is in the food, they stopped buying it.
but with restaurants -- it is a different story. they don't list ingredients on the menu, and people have no control over which oil is being used for cooking their dinner.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2006-12-05 08:59 pm (UTC)i actually think that personal liberties were attacked when companies replaced natural fats in products with artificial ones -- for the personal gain at people's health expense, plus didn't much inform the public about dangers associated with that product. yes, the "ingredients" part listed hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils in small letters on the label, but 90% of the population had no idea what the heck it means, and most people still don't know that these are trans-fats.
until last year the companies were obliged to indicate the amount of saturated fat on the label, but not the amount of trans-fat. so, for decades most people had no idea what kind of crap they were consuming.
i noticed one interesting thing -- since the new law went into effect last year, and companies were forced to list the amount of trans-fats on the product label not just by ingredient name (which most people cannot recognize, of course), but explicitly saying "Trans-Fat -- so many gramms", most manufacturers stopped using trans-fats altogether, cz once people became aware of what is in the food, they stopped buying it.
but with restaurants -- it is a different story. they don't list ingredients on the menu, and people have no control over which oil is being used for cooking their dinner.