Chick-fil-A gets rid of trans fat

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/10/09/ap5530619.html

By LAUREN SHEPHERD 10.09.08, 8:57 AM ET
NEW YORK -
Restaurant chain Chick-fil-A said Thursday it has eliminated all artificial trans fats from its chicken and biscuit-laden menu.
The Atlanta-based company said it changed its recipe for its waffle fries and its breakfast biscuits to remove trans fat after two years of testing to make sure the taste of the food was not affected by the switch.
"When you begin to tinker with and adjust recipes, you constantly have to go back to customers," said Woody Faulk, the company's vice president of brand development.
"There were a lot of iterations where we'd get the trans fat out," but customers said the products did not taste the same, he explained.
Trans fat raises the level of bad cholesterol in the body and can increase the risk of coronary heart disease. Restaurant companies and food makers have used trans fat to improve the taste and texture of foods and to keep food fresh longer.
The chain's signature chicken sandwiches, nuggets and strips have always been trans fat free since they are cooked in peanut oil, Faulk noted. Faulk said the company's breakfast biscuits all will be trans-fat free by the end of the month once restaurants deplete their biscuit recipe supply.
One menu item, however, will still have a small amount of trans fat - the company's cheesecake. The dessert has 0.5 grams of naturally-occuring trans-fat, Faulk said.
With the switch to trans-fat free recipes, Chick-fil-A is following the lead of most other fast-food chains. Earlier this month, Burger King (nyse: BKC - news - people ) Corp. said all of its menu ingredients will be trans-fat free by Nov. 1. Yum Brands Inc.'s KFC and Taco Bell switched in 2007 and Wendy's International Inc. (nyse: WEN - news - people ), the No. 3 burger chain, cut out trans fat oil a year earlier.
McDonald's Corp. (nyse: MCD - news - people ), the fast-food leader, began using trans fat free oil to make its french fries in all its restaurants in May and said it will use the oil in its baked goods, pies and cookies in all locations by the end of the year.
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