Shallow Nation, in making note of this particular Philadelphia story, does not take trans fat lightly, so to speak. Even the Mayo Clinic devotes a full page to the dangers of trans fat; it raises our bad cholesterol and lowers our good cholesterol simultaneously! Thus no one can claim that trans fat concerns are the obsessions of mere “health nuts” and thereby disparage them. How and if government should respond is another issue altogether, although we must say we would not be too upset if the government banned the use of arsenic if it were used as a food additive, even though our palate might suffer, temporarily.

Apparently, it became quite humorous when local Philadelphia bakeries appealed to City Council for exemption from the city’s trans fat ban:

Over the protests of the city’s Health Department and testimony from younger bakers from Center City and Chestnut Hill, bakers from South Philadelphia, Port Richmond, North Philadelphia and elsewhere said they could not reproduce their delicacies without the partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and shortenings.

“In the event that this would have gone through, we would be looking to go elsewhere,” said Richard Haegele, born 75 years ago over Haegele’s Bakery in Mayfair. He inherited the bakery from his father, and runs it with his son, Glen.

The Haegeles and other bakers said they had unsuccessfully tried to reproduce their delicacies – such as Polish chrusciki from Szypula’s in Port Richmond, cannoli from Termini Bros., and pound cake from Stock’s. Some bakers brought versions of their specialties with and without trans fats so officials could compare.

Philadelphia Metro Blog has an amusing bullet-point account of some of what when on at the meeting:

• Representatives from nearly 10 bakeries around the city carted in boxes upon boxes of baked goods made with and without trans fat. It was like the food version of “Miracle on 34th Street,” when they brought in the sacks and sacks of letters addressed to Santa Claus.
• Councilman Juan Ramos: “Philadelphia is nationally known as a trans fat-free city, this amendment would create confusion across the country.”

• Ramos, again: “This legislation [banning trans fat] not only attracts customers to our city’s restaurants, but also saves lives!”
• Councilman Brian O’Neill: “There’s a fine line between educating the public and becoming the food police.”
• There are no penalties or fines involved with violating the ban on trans fat in Philadelphia. Seriously, nothing.
• Councilman Frank DiCicco and Dr. Kenneth Smith (who has a PhD in economics, not an MD) of Philadelphia’s Department of Public Health got into a rather heated exchange over what the point of this actual ban was. DiCicco said that there was no difference in allowing people to choose to smoke cigarettes and allowing them to choose to eat cake that may be bad for their health. He makes a good point.
• O’Neill: “There should be a way where we don’t have to criminalize Stock’s pound cake.”
• Ramos, who is adamantly for the ban on trans fat and having the bakeries follow it, admitted to patronizing each bakery represented at the hearing at least twice each in a long speech about how much he loves their food. This caused Councilwoman Joan Krajewski, who sponsored the amendment to the ban, to pipe in and say, “What you’re saying is you’re willing to amend it then, right?” Ramos: “What I’m saying is, I like the cakes.”
• Both Councilmen O’Neill and Wilson Goode had to leave the hearing early before having a chance to eat any of the baked goods. They both looked disappointed.
• The amendment ultimately passed with a favorable recommendation out of the committee, 5-1, and will likely pass into law at an upcoming Council session.
• At the conclusion of the hearing, the entire room descended on the baked goods and started pigging out. No one was touching the non-trans fat stuff.

Shallow Nation also makes note that as the Wikipedia trans fat entry (said to need additional citation) points out, trans fat was developed and put into commercial use in 1911, as Crisco. Crisco has recently been reformulated to contain zero trans fat. This is not to say we endorse or use the new Crisco, but it does lead one to wonder why Philadelphia bakers can’t find success with trans-fat free Crisco.