Dunkin' Donuts is removing trans fats from menu

Oh. my. heck!! What are they thinking?? Why wreck a good thing? According to the article, Krispy Kreme is next. All hope is lost :-(

Dunkin' planned to announce Monday that it has developed an alternative cooking oil and reformulated more than 50 menu items—doughnuts included. The Canton, Mass.-based chain says its menu will be "zero grams trans fat" by Oct. 15 across its 5,400 U.S. restaurants in 34 states.

About 400 locations nationwide that took part in a four-month test already have made the switch to a new blend of palm, soybean and cottonseed oils. That includes all restaurants in New York City and Philadelphia, which are forcing restaurants to phase out their use of artery-clogging trans fat.

The ice cream chain Baskin-Robbins, another unit of Dunkin' Brands Inc., plans to be zero grams trans fat by Jan. 1.

Dunkin' isn't claiming it will become "trans fat free," but does say any trans fat in foods including doughnuts, croissants, muffins and cookies will fall below half a gram per serving. Federal regulations allow food labels to say they've got zero grams of trans fat, provided levels fall below the half-gram threshold.

[...]

But Cronin cautioned that when it comes to Dunkin's doughnuts, "we're still talking about a food that's mostly white flour, sugar, and fat."

Dunkin' isn't positioning its namesake product as health food—a shift that would involve more disbelief suspension than might be possible for a treat synonymous with portly, doughnut-gobbling Homer from television's "The Simpsons."

"The goal was not to make a healthy doughnut, it was really to create a doughnut that was better," said Joe Scafido, Dunkin's chief creative and innovation officer. "Certainly, we did not create a healthy doughnut."

[...]

Dunkin' is ahead of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc., which has yet to roll out a zero gram trans fat doughnut but hopes to do so. Brian Little, a spokesman for the North Carolina-based chain, said, "We continue to work aggressively with outside supply partners, and our goal is to get to zero trans fatty acids while maintaining great Krispy Kreme taste."

[...]

"We got no negative consumer feedback, and we sold 50 million doughnuts in that time," Scafido said.

Sorry, I'm not buying that!

Related Post:
Burger King is bowing to pressure

Burger King is bowing to pressure

Ugh! They are about to wreck their fries just like Wendy's and McDonald:

Burger King said Friday it will use trans-fat-free cooking oil at all its U.S. restaurants by the end of next year, following in the footsteps of other leading fast-food restaurants.

The world's second largest hamburger chain said it was already using zero trans-fat oil in hundreds of its more than 7,100 U.S. restaurants nationwide.

Burger King is known for its flame-broiled burgers, but uses cooking oil for its french fries and most of its chicken products.

In tests, consumers determined that more than a dozen items cooked in the new oil, such as french fries and hash browns, tasted the same or better than products cooked in the trans-fat oil, the company said.

Miami-based Burger King Corp. said two trans-fat-free oil blends passed tests. If adequate supply becomes available, the U.S. rollout of the oils could be completed sooner than 2008, the company said.

Trans fats are listed on food labels as partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. They can raise bad cholesterol and lower healthy cholesterol, increasing the risk of heart disease, doctors say.

Critics have said Burger King was taking too long to move toward the healthier oils. The Washington-based Center for Science in the Public Interest sued Burger King in May, saying the company was moving too slowly and had failed to set a definite timetable for removal of trans fats.

In response to the lawsuit, Burger King said in May it expected to begin the national rollout its new zero trans-fat oil by the end of this year.

I don't believe their propaganda about taste. Now the only good place for fries in this area is Chick-fil-A! I actually go to Wendy's to buy a cheeseburger and then drive over to Chick-fil-A to buy fries because I hate the Wendy's fries. I used to love them until they changed their oil and now they usually taste burnt or have an aftertaste. Yech! Please,Chick-fil-A don't mess with your yummy fries! Don't let the food fascists make you do it!

Tags: Burger King, fries