COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Thursday, January 25, 2007 10:30 a.m. - - - PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO, CHAIR COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILMAN JAMES F. KENNEY COUNCILMAN JUAN RAMOS COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN BILL 060958 - An ordinance amending Title 6 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Health Code," by prohibiting the use of artificial trans fats in restaurants and other food service establishments, under certain terms and conditions. - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2
Good morning. Thank you for coming this morning. The Committee on Public Health and Human Services is now in session. I'd like to recognize Councilman Juan Ramos, who is the sponsor of this bill, Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, and two other Councilmembers are on their way. We will have a quorum before the end of the day when we take action on this piece of legislation, but we do not want to keep you here all day and so we're going to begin the discussion. And we'd like to have the Clerk read the ordinance.
Bill No. 060958, an ordinance amending Title 6 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Health Code," by prohibiting the use of artificial trans fats in restaurants and other food service establishments, under certain terms and conditions.
Thank you very much. We do have the quorum. Councilman Kenney has joined us. So the 3 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 Committee is now in session and we will begin the hearing. The Chair recognizes Councilman Ramos.
Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for being here and the co-sponsors, Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller and Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, and I thank my colleague, Councilman Kenney, for joining us here this morning to hear from the public on such an important issue. On December the 14th of last year, I introduced a bill in City Council that modifies Philadelphia's Health Code prohibiting the use of artificial trans fats in food service establishments. Under this new proposal law, no food containing artificial trans fats where the trans fat content of the food in question is in excess of 0.5 grams per serving may be served, stored or used in Philadelphia restaurants and other food service establishments. 4 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 Artificial trans fat increases the risk of heart disease, stroke and death by increasing bad cholesterols and decreasing good cholesterols. Research on the direct link between heart disease and the consumption of artificial trans fats has been well documented, creating a growing national health issue. And heart disease is one of Philadelphia's leading causes of death. Heart attacks and related illnesses burden our hospitals, reduce productivity of our workplace, distort our insurance rates and the healthcare safety net, and they destroy families. We need to battle heart disease in a sustainable and preventive and more intelligent manner. Philadelphia's government needs to help all of us in that more intelligent fight. I expect that if Philadelphia's food service establishments replace artificial trans fat with currently available heart healthy alternatives, the result will be 5 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 as much as a six percent reduction in coronary heart disease events in our community. The resulting public health impact of such reduction will be very significant. Millions of dollars and, much more importantly, many lives will be saved. Already several restaurant chains, including Wendy's, Starbucks, Subway, Denny's, Chili's, Ruby Tuesday's -- I'm getting hungry -- and KFC have either eliminated or started to reduce the use of trans fats and see the promotion of this change has an important successful marketing tool. In the long run, this legislation is likely to attract customers to Philadelphia restaurants and dining halls. Also, I have written a letter to the School District of Philadelphia asking them to voluntarily remove trans fat additives from school cafeterias, and I expect a positive response in the near future. 6 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 Today we would like to hear from you, the public, on how you feel about this trend-setting legislation. Thank you, Madam Chair, for letting me give this speech.
Thank you very much. Councilman Kenney, would you like to comment?
We'd like to thank Councilman Ramos for taking the initiative to take action on this issue. It is a very important issue, and this Committee, the Public Health and Human Services Committee, is responsible for taking action and finding ways to help our citizens to remain healthy. And if we can only get Pathmark to fry their chicken in hydrogenated grease, then we'd be all right. That's about the only thing I eat. But it's a worthwhile effort here. It's a good issue, and we're 7 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 looking forward to hearing your testimony this morning. And I understand we have something exciting coming around around o'clock from Ms. Gwen Foster to show 6 us that non-trans fat foods can be tasty 7 and healthy and easy to prepare. So if 8 you don't have to leave, stick around for 9 this wonderful treat. 10 The Chair now calls on 11 Commissioner Carmen Paris from the Health 12 Department. Is she here? She's not here. You're going to testify?
Sure. Come forward, please. Would you identify yourself, please, for the record.
Yes. My name is Izzat Melhem, the Assistant Health Commissioner.
My pleasure. May I start? 8 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958
Good morning, Councilwoman Tasco and members of the Committee on Public Health and Human Services. I am Izzat Melhem, Assistant Health Commissioner. Thank you for the opportunity to present testimony today on Bill 060958, which would prohibit the use of artificial trans fats in food establishments. Trans fatty acids, typically referred to as trans fats, are formed when liquid vegetable and plant oils undergo a chemical process called partial hydrogenation, in which hydrogen is added to make the oils more solid. This artificial industrial process provides for a longer shelf life for baked goods and longer fry life for cooking oils. Food products using partially hydrogenated oils or margarines contain trans fats. Partially hydrogenated oils are commonly found in processed foods like commercial baked products, including 9 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 cookies, crackers, cakes and bread. They are also used as cooking oils for fried foods such as French fries, fish, chicken and doughnuts. Artificial trans fats have no 7 nutritional value, are harmful to health and should be prohibited from food establishments. Artificial trans fats increase the level of low-density lipoproteins, the bad cholesterol, while decreasing the level of high-density lipoproteins, which is the good cholesterol. S. Food and Drug Administration now requires nutrition labels to list trans fat content. However, because food establishments are not required to list the nutrition content of their food items, most people do not know the nutrition content of the meals when dining out and, thus, cannot make healthy 10 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 eating choices about where to dine and what foods to avoid while dining out. When you add the ready availability of inexpensive, unhealthy, fast foods and the lack of access to fresh, nutritious foods, you have a recipe for a public health crisis and an urgent need for new approaches to regulating what gets into foods people eat. A prohibition of artificial trans fats in food establishments is a proportionate response to the urgent need to eliminate this unnecessary substance from the food supply. The proposed bill would require food establishments to maintain written records for each menu item to disclose menu item contents and to maintain labels or manufacturers' data for all components that are either fats or prepared foods. Department of Public Health sanitarians, during routine inspections, would simply compare these documents with the menu for compliance. The sanitarian would issue a 11 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 violation statement if the food establishment were found out of compliance. This review could be very time consuming, and the Environmental Health Services Unit estimates that two additional sanitarians would be needed to maintain current productivity levels. The Department of Public Health does not recommend any specific penalties at this time. Rather, we believe compliance with this legislation is primarily an issue of education and outreach. Other metropolitan areas that have prohibited trans fats in food establishments have fostered a number of educational programs to both consumers and food establishments to assist in the transition. For example, New York City is offering training on trans fat free cooking to chefs. Other locations are sponsoring trans fat free cooking contests. The Division of Chronic Disease Prevention could coordinate citywide information and technical 12 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 assistance programs for food establishments and the public with the assistance of one full-time nutritionist, one full-time health educator and a funded public information campaign. Because the record-keeping requirements of the bill are minimal, costs to food establishments should also be minimal for this requirement.
Switching from partially hydrogenated cooking oils to non-partially hydrogenated unsaturated cooking oils is simply a matter of identifying and ordering an alternative product. Two major fat and oil producers are already in the position to roll out trans fat substitutes in large quantities and, for the most part, at comparable prices. Thus, we do not expect food establishments to face any barriers finding trans fat free alternatives. Switching cooking oils should have only a marginal impact on cost items for food items, like French fries, that 13 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 involve deep-frying or sauteing in the oil. To see why, consider the fact that a 35-pound case of oil could cook at least 1,000 servings of French fries. This means that every dollar increase in the price of the cooking oil increases the cost of a serving of French fries by only one-tenth of one cent. The proposed bill accommodates the greater time required to modify recipes for baked goods by including a longer period of time prior to enforcement for baked goods. During this period, an information campaign led by the Department of Public Health could help facilitate successful recipe modifications. Fortunately, Philadelphia has the luxury of learning from the experience of others who have passed bans on trans fat. In Denmark, which banned trans fat in 2003, virtually no one, according to press accounts, notices any differences in the taste of food. Fries are still crispy and cookies are still 14 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 tasty. We should expect no less in Philadelphia. Thank you for the opportunity to present testimony today on this important issue. I will now answer questions.
A few questions that I have received, and, for the record, I must state that the response has been overwhelmingly in support of the trans fat ban in the City of Philadelphia. And a little survey that we conducted out of my office we found that -- I wasn't very surprised, but slightly surprised -- that the younger age bracket, I think 18 to 20 something, that was all for this. And I think all of us at the age of 18 are eating in -- we can eat anything. So I 15 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 was very pleased with the response I got from that age group. Do you see yourself going into a restaurant and taking a sample of the food and taking it to a lab to see if in fact it has more than 0.5 grams of trans fat in it?
Good. According to your testimony, you'll be looking into the supply closet, right, to see and take a look at the labels; is that correct?
That would also -- that would be a part of it. Also, we require the establishment to maintain files of labels of menu items as well as ingredients, and we would use those as well as identify items during the course of our normal inspection.
Yes. Because that was one of the questions I 16 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 got, is the Health Department going to go and start taking samples of the food and taking them to the lab, and I told them that the way we put the legislation, we worded the legislation, that my understanding that it will be no, that that might be a little bit too much -- that would be intrusion and that we will not do that. You see it the same way, then?
Thank you very much. In restaurants, traditional sit-down restaurants, white table cloth type of restaurants, is this a big issue? Because most of their food is, I guess, fresher than the needed shelf life that 17 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 trans fats provides for other types of foods. Do you find that to be the case or is there -- I don't want to name a restaurant, but a restaurant on Walnut Street, would they have a trans fat issue generally or is this more a fast food operation?
This really -- there are no lines as to what type of restaurant. I think mainly it would be anywhere that prepares foods, whether they use a spread, for example, like a margarine on breads or for frying. So I don't think it would be specific to either a white table restaurant or a fast food -- white table cloth or a fast food restaurant.
It's not a butter issue. 18 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958
So if it's a deep-fried situation, most likely they would have an issue with having to change what they deep fry in?
But if you're sauteing in a restaurant with butter, it's not generally an issue?
What would be the benefit for even a fast food restaurant to have the trans fat oil? Does it last longer as far as being able -- in the fryolator itself, does it last a longer period of time and that's why they use it? The baked goods side of it makes sense to me. Although if the stuff 19 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 is bad, the shelf life is extended, so, therefore, the product lasts longer.
But in a fryolator in a fast food restaurant, the benefit to having the hydrogenated oil or partially hydrogenated oil is because of the length of time the oil lasts?
Well, initially it adds stability to the frying oil. The frying oil could be used longer before it breaks down.
Do you know how much longer? I mean, what's the difference?
I do not know specifically, but I know there are alternatives out there. The major manufacturers have come out with --
I'm not arguing the benefits of trans fats. I just want to understand for my own mindset why would you use it in the first place. I mean, what was the benefit of 20 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 it to begin with? Again, on the baked goods side, I kind of understand increasing the shelf life of a baked good product, but in a restaurant, where is the benefit to it?
As far as frying, it would be -- like for frying foods, the oil, you would be able to use it longer, to continually fry foods over and over again before it breaks down, and it imparts a bad taste when it does break down. So the partial hydrogenation stabilizes it longer.
Is there a time limit or any regulation on how often or how long a restaurant can reuse the oil, cooking oil? I mean, they deep fry, particularly a fast food or a corner take-out. Is there any requirement that they not use this oil for maybe one day or they can use it for a week, or how long? 21 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958
I think more significant than the time, I'm sure an oil would break down over time. Even if it wasn't used, it would be maybe a longer time, but once it's used, you have more of a breakdown process. You have impurities placed into that -- that make it into the oil from the foods. So I think the factor here is more of how frequently it's used for frying, like how much food you put in there to fry in that oil. That's really what the life of that oil would -- the factor that would influence the life of that oil, that cooking oil.
So that the length of time that it has the ability to fry it, it impacts the quality of the end product.
Correct. If you use the same oil over and over again frying -- and restaurants obviously, as we know, get very, very busy, and like French fries, chicken, anything that's 22 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 deep fried, if they're constantly using the same oil, it will break down and it will get a lot of impurities in it as well. During our inspection, we do identify those types of issues. When we evaluate a restaurant, we do check their cooking equipment. And if we've seen a condition where there's a lot of impurities in an oil such as particles of food that have come off, we will cite that.
What is the status of the law in New York? Do you have any update on where they are and the enforcement of this law?
I do know -- I don't know specifically, but I do know that there was an 18-month grace period before it was implemented, and part of what I mentioned in my testimony was to give businesses the opportunity to change menus or to change ingredients and recipes. 23 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958
What's happening with the national companies who produce cookies and cakes? I mean, what's happening in that environment?
Interestingly, it's appropriate that you ask that. Just this morning I was approached by a co-worker in my office before I came over to buy Girl Scout cookies, and when I looked at the order sheet, you have pictures of the cookies, and every cookie that was pictured, right next to it was a star to highlight the fact that it had zero grams of trans fat. So there is a national trend. I mean, actually, it's a global trend to move away from the use of trans fats in foods. A lot of major manufacturers are moving away from it. You're seeing more and more baked products on shelves, cookies, cakes, crackers, that are promoting the fact on their labeling that they do not contain any trans fats.
Do they 24 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 have a "sell by" date on them or "use by" date on these products?
They do for freshness, but it's nothing that the Health Department would regulate.
We have Dr. Daniel Rader, American Heart Association. I hope I pronounced that correctly.
Thank you very much for having me here today. My name is Dr. Daniel Rader. I'm a Professor of Medicine and Director of Preventive Cardiology at the University of Pennsylvania and also here representing the American Heart Association. My 25 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 clinical interest and my research are really dedicated to the preventing heart disease and stroke. I happen to share the opinion of the American Heart Association, so I'm going to read from parts of their position paper with regard to this issue. The American Heart Association has long recognized the consumption of artificial trans fats is a health risk to American people and encourages their removal from packaged goods and foods prepared in restaurants and bakeries. In 2006, the AHA issued its diet and life-style recommendation advising people to limit their consumption of trans fats to no more than one percent of daily caloric intake. The AHA supports regulatory efforts at the local level, such as this one, to reduce trans fats in packaged foods, baked goods and restaurant meals, provided healthy alternatives and practical guidance are taken into 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 consideration. We feel that such efforts are most likely to achieve their intended goal if they incorporate a comprehensive phased-in approach to eliminating the use of artificial trans fats. We are concerned, as we've heard, that a mandatory ban on trans fats alone if unaccompanied by an effective program of education and a reasonable implementation schedule may raise the risk of unintended consequences; that is, the substitution of trans fats with unhealthy oils high in saturated fats. Therefore, the AHA wants to ensure that a sufficient supply of healthier alternative oils and shortenings are available to restaurants and bakeries to prevent the substitution of unhealthy alternatives. As the supplies of healthy trans free oils become more abundant and restaurants find appropriate substitutes, these issues will be of less concern. Thus, the American Heart Association recommends, one, a sufficient 27 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 time frame for phase-in; two, regulatory safeguards that provide policymakers flexibility in implementation; and, three, strong programmatic and educational efforts to assist the restaurant industry concurrent with these regulations. The AHA, therefore, recommends specifically the following: Verify that enough healthy alternatives are available to meet the projected demand of restaurants and bakeries; provide exemptions or grace periods for restaurants if governing agencies confirm that healthier oil alternatives are not available in sufficient amounts, if there's a disruption in supply or if late-stage operational adjustments are identified by restaurants and bakers; discourage the substitution of trans fats with other unhealthy oil and shortening products; extend the phase-in time frame for baking, a crucial component in the effective implementation of a ban on 28 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 trans fats; and, finally, provide the restaurant service industry with specific guidance on which cooking oils and shortenings to use and how to incorporate them into their food preparation process; that is, specific recipes, different temperatures, appropriate schedules for frying, et cetera. In summary, the American Heart Association supports the ban on artificial trans fats, provided that it is accompanied by an effective program of education and a reasonable period of implementation, including systematic efforts to ensure the availability and use of healthier alternatives. Thank you very much for this opportunity to testify before you today.
For how long has the American Heart Association had this position on the danger of trans fat?
I think the formal 29 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 position really has been since January of '06 when labeling began. So that's really when the formal position. I think for a long time the AHA has followed the research. Actually, funded a lot of the research on this issue, has made informal recommendations that people should limit their trans fat intake, but felt that until labeling was implemented, that people really had no ability to actually do this because they had no idea what to look at. So once the labeling came into effect, the AHA then stated that people should limit their intake to less than one percent of total caloric intake.
The FDA requiring that you state the nutritional fact and specifically trans fat, how do you think that has impacted your position and your concern about the direct correlation between heart disease and the consumption of trans fats?
That's a very 30 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 important question, and I think what you're asking is has consumer desire to limit trans fats actually led to increased intake of, for example, saturated fats or other things that might be just as harmful. I don't think we have enough data yet in this relatively short time to know from data what the answer to that is. My overall sense is that, just speaking anecdotally and looking at what I've seen, that the reduction in trans fats in, for example, commercially baked goods that consumers are attempting to apply based on now labeling changes has not been necessarily accompanied by a comparable increase in saturated fat. So that's, of course, our hope and our concern as we move toward more and more banning of trans fats.
People are always concerned with us lawmakers whether we're intruding in the rights of citizens, and we sure don't want to be looked at as people that are always 31 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 intruding, but there is a role for government. I remember in the -- I think it was around the early '60s that all of a sudden people stopped using in their households to a very high percentage, they stopped using lard, but it was because government put out these reports. I believe the Heart Association back then put out these reports and told us all the use of lard in your daily cooking could be a very bad thing. And then all of a sudden, people throughout America, families, my household -- I remember my mother said, This is over with, we're going here with corn oil. So I think this is a very important thing to do at this time. It is not -- although in Philadelphia's case in respect to legislation is kind of trend-setting, but this is not anything that government has not done in the past to warn its citizens, yes, we all are -- a lot of us do -- I do, I can have some fried chicken this afternoon or this 32 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 evening, but the fact of the matter is that when I am now being told be careful with what you're frying that chicken in and that you can actually eat it and it will taste the same. The household oil that we use in my house, I saw zero trans fat on it a few months ago and then I, just out of curiosity because of my interest in this matter, I called the company. I called the producer up, and he said, Well, we have been using trans fat for the last 14 years in that oil. 15
Maybe because I was just very hungry, but I did not notice a taste difference. There might have been, but I just did not notice it at all.
I think education has its limits, and I think when it comes to going to restaurants, you don't have the ability to use the education to really determine whether you're going to 33 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 intake trans fats. And the only way to do it is not to go to restaurants at all. So I think this initiative really is very important if it can be done I think in an appropriate way.
I have a couple of questions. Could we get Mr. Melhem back to the table? Could you come back? Don't leave, Dr. Rader. I believe in New York that it was the Health Commissioner there who initiated the action around this issue in New York and brought it to the City Council. In this instance, our Councilmember has introduced this ordinance. And there are a lot of questions raised by Dr. Rader regarding education around this program, and I wanted to know, is our Health Department ready and have the ability to begin an education program about this matter? 34 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958
I can't hear you. Would you speak into the mike, please.
Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. Our Division of Chronic Disease Prevention is ready to work with our Environmental Health Services Unit to not only put together an educational component for businesses but also to distribute it during the normal course of our inspections to establishments to educate business owners and --
Well, as I indicated, the additional staff that we would need in order to be able to do this effectively, but we would use whatever means we have to make sure that it is accomplished.
Now, you were here when we had the discussion 35 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 about the sanitarians around inspections, food inspections at restaurants.
Would you need additional sanitarians to work with the restaurant owners on this bill?
Well, with our current staff, it would cut into our production levels, our productivity. So we would do the best we can, but it would require additional staff.
In addition to what you requested during the hearings on food inspectors, you would need additional members also?
Yes. The original numbers we presented did not take into account the enforcement of this ordinance.
Could you have the Commissioner get to us an analysis of what she would need to enforce this legislation?
And also what we need to deal with the sanitarians we had already talked about, additional sanitarians we need, what's the total complement of employees, sanitarians, do we need to satisfy both issues.
Okay. And it would also be the staffing for the Division of Chronic Disease Prevention.
Thank you very much. Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown has a couple of questions of both gentlemen. Dr. Rader?
Good 37 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 morning. First I would like to commend my colleague, Councilman Juan Ramos, for putting this on the radar screen and in a huge way just grabbing our attention and then reminding others of us who are always concerned about weight loss that if we look at this, it moves us in that direction. I'm curious to know your perspective on the issue of labeling, where you've seen it work in other places, do you think it works, do you think it's beneficial, do you think it's of value? Because my staff and I have actually been doing the homework on labeling, so we want to complement the work of Councilman Juan Ramos in this area.
Labeling of commercial products that one would buy in a grocery store?
Well, more specifically, you walk into a McDonald's and labeling that would tell us what is 38 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 the content.
Oh, labeling like this Quarter Pounder contains X amount of trans fat?
Well, as we heard from labeling of commercial products, I really think ultimately that type of information, when consumers are given it, will have an impact on behavior and I think has already begun to have an impact on behavior in terms of labeling of commercial products that we buy in grocery stores. So I do believe that there's a role for that and I think that that type of education and information available to the consumer does influence behavior. Now, I can't quote you the studies that have actually proven that. That's more of a sense of my own interaction with patients, my own discussions with colleagues. But I do believe that that sort of an approach 39 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 certainly can have an effect, and there are many people who, given the information, will make decisions based on that that hopefully will be in their best interest from their own health.
I certainly see the logic in that, and in the world that we work in, you have to anticipate the argument against labeling. Anecdotally, when we sought to encourage or we actually asked the School District to take sodas out of the schools, we were approached by a major bottling company in the City on why go in that direction. So ultimately the School District rendered a decision that there would be no sodas in school for any children. So with that backdrop, do you think that what you just presented in terms of why it's a good thing to do, do you think that that would hold water for major food retailers like McDonald's and Kentucky Fried and others that labeling is a good thing to do, it helps the 40 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 consumers who come to your franchise make better decisions about what they eat?
Yeah. These are great questions. I don't pretend to be an expert in these issues, but I'll give you my opinion.
I do think that a lot of these establishments feel under siege as a result of all the information that the public is now getting about how fast food leads to obesity, leads to diabetes, leads to heart disease and stroke. And I do feel that some of them are beginning to recognize that actually by being out front and actually changing their practices to use types of oils that truly are more healthy and then having the opportunity, perhaps induced by a little bit of legislation like this, to actually promote that and say, We are doing this and, by the way, here's the information on trans fats, on saturated fats, see, we're actually changing in 41 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 response to your desires, my hope would be that at the end their business won't suffer, but actually if you look over a 10- or 20-year horizon, their business may actually ultimately be much better than going down the path of being a pariah because they've served these terribly unhealthy meals to people. Perhaps I'm giving too much credit to the average consumer, but I think that's where things are headed in terms of that type of psychology.
We thank you for your testimony. You can anticipate coming back on the labeling matter.
Thank you very much. The Chair calls Dr. Samuel Gidding, Professor of Pediatrics at Thomas Jefferson University.
Thank you very 42 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 much. Since some of my points in my written testimony have been covered, I'm going to emphasize points in my testimony related to some of the discussion and issues that have not been brought up. We're obviously here because trans fats are bad for you. I want to point out that right now the trans fat content of the American diet is about two to three percent, and for many individuals it's much higher than that. And in addition to some of the other associations that have been talked about, there probably are associations with diabetes and sudden death as well. Another important point of the evidence is that what we see in humans goes all the way down to animal studies. So when people began observing adverse effects of trans fats in humans, animal studies were done, and this research confirms all of the adverse effects. It is estimated that about three to six percent of coronary heart 43 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 disease events could be prevented with a substantial reduction in trans fat intake. Being an advocate for children, I believe this effect may be even greater in long-term disease prevention. Children eat countless meals with trans fats, fried foods in fast food restaurants, commercially prepared meals in schools and junk foods with trans fats. Lifetime exposure will accelerate atherosclerosis in this population, particularly in the obese children that are also at risk for diabetes. American Heart Association and other organizations currently recommend that trans fats be less than one percent of the calories in the diet. Consumers can now choose foods free of trans fat, thanks to the presence of food labels indicating the amount of trans fats in products. An indication of consumer interest in limiting trans fat intake is the response of industry to the new food labeling requirement. Formulations of 44 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 many products were adjusted to limit or eliminate trans fats, and products that previously contained trans fats are often now advertised as being free from trans fats in the new formulation. In addition to the -- I think fiber provides a good example of the impact of diet of food labeling, because, for example, in my own counseling to increase dietary fiber intake, the fiber line, which has now been on food labels for many years, is a very good indicator of the quality of cereals, and many of my patients who have had nutrition education are making cereal choices based on their fiber content. So I think it's very effective. A significant source of trans fat remains in the American food supply and that's from restaurants and other commercial providers of foods such as bakeries where food labeling is not required. It is now estimated that at least one-third of meals are consumed 45 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 outside of the home and it's probably a higher percentage because of the decline in home cooking. Typical foods that have a high trans fat content include French fries, breaded and deep-fried chicken and fish, pizza, burritos and baked goods. I think another key thing where people forget about trans fats is in pizza crust, for example, so that you need another baked product that's consumed very highly. And I think this gets to the heart of the regulation issue: If you don't have labeling, consumers are unable to make choices, and I think that's the value of labeling to emphasize that. And I can tell you that within the Heart Association I'm on a writing committee now for family-based nutrition and the idea of providing consumers with important nutritional information at checkout is being considered as a recommendation. I mean, that's not policy yet, but we're thinking about 46 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 developing that type of policy in the next year or two.
It's already been mentioned how bans on trans fat have been successfully introduced without change in taste preference of consumers in countries like Denmark. And I want to emphasize this point: The regulation of trans fat content in restaurants is appropriate. Well, why is that? Well, first, foods with added trans fats produce harm and consumers have little opportunity to choose foods without trans fats. So there's a question of choice there. Providers of commercial food that's been well discussed by the Health Department can use alternative fats in food preparation. I think this is something else where Philadelphia is in the vanguard and it shows the benefit of these types of regulation. Regulation of tobacco use provides a successful example as a model for this legislation. It has now been 47 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 well documented that ending smoking in restaurants and at bars and other public places has lowered heart attack rates by as much as percent in communities 6 immediately after that legislation has 7 been enacted. And in New York City I 8 think the numbers are smaller but have 9 been sustained over a five- or six-year 10 period. 11 So we know that putting 12 regulation behind what we understand from 13 public health and research is important 14 in improving health, so I urge you to 15 pass the amendment to Title 6 of The 16 Philadelphia Health Code. 17 Thank you. 18
Thank you 19 very much. 20 Questions? 21 (No response.) 22
Thank you 23 very much for coming. 24 Charmain Edwards. 25
Good morning, 48 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 everyone. My name is Charmain Edwards. I'm from the Health Promotion Council, and all of the fine speakers before me and Councilman Ramos, you pretty much covered everything that I wanted to talk about.
There's nothing wrong with repeating the message so that people get it. That's why they advertise the same commercial 50 million times, so that the receiver hears the message, because a lot of people don't hear the message the first time. So let's just continue to repeat what's being said.
Okay. Thank you. We previously referred to the required food manufacturers to list the trans fat as 0.5, and also the other recommendation was no more than two grams based on a 2,000 calorie diet. And pretty much when you look at food labeling, it's usually based on a 2,000 calorie diet. So they're saying no more than two grams 49 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 throughout that whole day.
Yes. One thing about cooking oils, you were asking questions about the degrading of the oils. The way it's supposed to be is, you're supposed to only use the oil a certain amount of time anyway, but some establishments use the oil longer because it costs a lot to change that whole fryolator. And a lot of them also will drain out particles and reuse the oil. So I think it differs from establishment to establishment how much they want to invest in buying this oil, how much they feel they're going to lose if they throw it out and have to replace it. What we've been doing primarily is, I work with women in recovery and we work with the shelter systems, and we've been teaching about trans fat for like the last five years. We've also put together recipes and a cookbook for the 50 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 shelters. I think we have like nine that we attend to. And they are appropriate. They're USDA regulations. We look out for the fat, the sugar and the salt content. As far as this whole law goes, I'm not too familiar with it. I was just told yesterday that it was going to be here today and I really didn't get a chance to research a lot of things, but I think that if something is listed on menus, it would be very helpful. For instance, I teach Serve Safe, and a lot of people, they still want their meat rare. They still want soft-cooked eggs. But you have to have some type of codicil or some type of notification on that menu that you're eating these undercooked foods at your risk.
Well, what happens is, say, for instance, there's steak on -- say there's eggs on and you 51 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 want a three-minute egg or you want a soft egg. Then they'll say like maybe on the bottom "undercooked foods may lead to..." So there's something on there to give you some indication --
Maybe food poisoning or salmonella or something like that. And especially like juice bars, they're required to have something up, because the juices sometimes are not pasturized, they're fresh squeezed. You don't know where the fruit came from. You don't know how it was handled. So I think that if there's something written on a menu to indicate that, maybe an asterisk, this food contain trans fat or trans fatty acids or something to that effect and give the consumer the chance to make up his or her mind as to whether she wants to eat this product. Again, I think education is key, because we've really been talking 52 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 about it for like a little over five years now at various sites.
If you looked at two grams of trans fat, what would that look like?
Well, it's like -- now you're taking me way, way back to chemistry, but from what I recall, 32 grams equal an ounce. So it's really not a whole lot. Any chemistry buffs in here? (No response.)
Could anybody tell us what two grams would be? I'm trying to control my --
It's hard to decide what a gram is unless they actually show you a gram, but I think, if I remember correctly -- and I'm not going to give my age away, but I think it was 32 grams equal an ounce. So you can imagine what two grams must be. It's practically nothing. And also, we talked 53 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 about artificial trans fat. There's also trans fat that's naturally occurring, and what they found -- the studies have found that the naturally occurring trans fats which are found in animal-based foods are not as destructive as artificial trans fat. I did a little research yesterday and Crisco has come up with a trans fat free shortening, but I'm thinking in the back of my mind that it's still probably saturated.
Usually on these packages they list that this is hydrogenated. That's how you know that there's trans fat in the product. But the labeling does not list how many grams, right?
Right, but they're going to -- I read here where it says the Food and Drug Administration now requires food manufacturers to list trans fat or fatty acids on their food labels. So I think that we're going to begin to 54 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 see it.
They'll put the number of grams there? Because if you're telling me I need two grams per a 2,000 calorie diet --
That will probably be on the bottom, but what they're probably going to put is -- they're not going to stop you from buying anything, of course, and, of course, some things are going to have more than 0.5 grams, but at least you'll know. Like say if you fix this -- I don't want to say a brand name, but this chicken and you see there it has trans fats, maybe two grams per serving, then you know like, Whoa, that's way over the top, I need to stay somewhere around 0.5. Again, education is key, because how do you know 0.5 is okay whereas two grams is not?
I just want 55 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 to say that I am glad you testified.
Seriously, you added a whole different perspective to the good testimonies of the people that preceded you. When you mentioned Crisco, I saw that the other day as well, that Crisco was lightening up on their product.
And KFC and Starbucks. They're starting to come around. And it's not going to happen overnight, we know that, but I think there should be some indication, as I said earlier, where the consumer knows what they're eating and then they can make the decision.
Hi. Good 56 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 morning, Councilmembers and guests. My name is John Weidman. I'm the Deputy Executive Director of The Food Trust, and we're a Philadelphia-based non-profit working to improve access to affordable and nutritious food. The Food Trust's mission includes both nutrition education and environmental change to improve health in low-income communities. Nutrition education and information are critical to preventing obesity and encouraging healthy eating, but they are not enough. When you live in a community that is surrounded by cheap fast food joints and convenience stores, it is not easy to make healthy choices for your family. To address the current epidemic of diet-related disease like hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, we must make eating nutritious foods easy by creating an environment that supports healthy eating, and banning trans fat in Philadelphia is a significant step toward 57 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 that goal. The Food Trust worked with the strong support of City Council to get soda banned in the Philadelphia School District, and today the Philadelphia School District has the strongest vending policy in the country, allowing only water, milk and 100 percent fruit juice in school vending machines. The kids did not riot. The schools did not close down for lack of funding. Life went on, only with a vending policy that supported sound nutrition among our children. And our city is better for this change.
Today we have a similar opportunity to improve health and reduce healthcare costs by banning trans fat in restaurants. Trans fat is an 58 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 unnecessary health threat in our food supply. Furthermore, the presence of trans fat in restaurant foods, as a number of folks have mentioned today, is not always apparent to consumers. People trying to choose healthier foods have their efforts undermined by the hidden dangers of trans fat that could be in anything from a pie trust -- trans fat could be in anything in a restaurant from a pie crust or a muffin to the oil that your fish was cooked in. The threat to our health is real. And as we heard a number of people mentioned, trans fat lowers the good cholesterol and raises the bad cholesterol. So it's pretty bad. Most of us in this room either take medication to lower cholesterol or have a friend or family member who does. So we all know how serious high cholesterol is and the consequences of not addressing it. In 2003, the National 59 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 Academies' Institute of Medicine concluded that the only safe level of trans fat in the diet is zero. Furthermore, according to the comprehensive Nurses' Health Study, the largest investigation of women and chronic disease, trans fat doubles the risk of heart disease in women. As I mentioned before, The Food Trust's mission incorporates both education and environmental change. To make this ban successful, the City needs a public education effort to explain it to consumers, letting them know that trans fat free does not automatically mean eat all you want, it's health food. And I would strongly support the legislation Councilwoman Reynolds Brown mentioned on restaurant menu labeling, which would really help in that effort. Right now not everyone in the City is aware of the harm trans fat can cause and might not understand the need for a ban or might be concerned that they 60 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 won't ever be able to have a cheesesteak again.
We know that a trans fat ban will not limit consumers' food choices, and a public education effort will help consumers understand the benefits of the policy. Also as already mentioned, this is not a freedom of choice issue, because consumers don't know how to choose foods that don't have trans fat. Without a city policy, consumers are left unprotected from the hidden dangers every time they walk into a restaurant. It wasn't so long ago that you could smoke in a hospital room while visiting a sick relative. Now that idea seems ridiculous. And in the same way that we now recognize the dangers of secondhand 61 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 smoke and through the leadership of Council and the Mayor moved to remove it from our environment, we're recognizing the dangers of trans fat. In the near future the idea of adding trans fats to foods will seem unthinkable and Philadelphia has the opportunity today to be ahead of the curve. Trans fat won't just improve the health of our residents; it also will help businesses. All Philadelphia employers are struggling with spiraling healthcare costs. The major driver in these costs is diet-related disease, and a trans fat ban will help contain healthcare costs. And as we have also heard today, this will not significantly impact food industry, and many food industries are already making the switch to get rid of trans fat. Health conscious consumers may be more apt to eat out in a city that is trans fat free. In closing, I want to thank 62 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 Councilman Ramos for introducing this legislation and Council for holding this hearing. Banning trans fat is the right policy for Philadelphia. It will lead to healthier residents, lower healthcare costs and it will allow Philadelphia restaurants who serve the best food in the country to continue to thrive. Thank you.
Thank you very much for your testimony. Are there any questions? (No response.)
Thank you for the good job you're doing with The Food Trust. I appreciate your leadership.
I'd like to apologize to Mr. Jacobson. I did miss your name. You were next. Please come forward. Mike Jacobson, Executive Director, Center for Science in the Public Interest. 63 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 Did I miss anyone else? I'm coming to the rest of the people. Thank you.
Thank you very much for having the opportunity to testify at this important hearing. I'm the Executive Director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a non-profit health advocacy organization based in Washington, DC. Among other things, CSPI led the effort to win passage of the law requiring nutrition labeling on food packages. And we publish the Nutrition Action Health letter that's the largest circulation health newsletter in the world. We have about 900,000 subscribers, including many in Philadelphia, of course. We've long been concerned about trans fat. It was in 1993 that we first urged the Food and Drug Administration to list trans fat on food labels. The FDA finalized its labeling regulation in 2003 and now trans fat is listed on almost 64 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 every packaged food in the supermarket. We also worked closely with the New York City's Health Department on its new trans fat regulation for restaurants, which will go into effect later this year. I'm very pleased that Councilmember Ramos has introduced a bill that would make this city the first to adopt legislation limiting trans fat in restaurants. Partially hydrogenated oils are the source of most of the trans fat in our diet and have had a dramatic recent history. Twenty years ago the Food and Drug Administration and academic scientists thought that trans fat was perfectly safe. But all that changed in 1990 when research began demonstrating that trans fat on a gram-for-gram basis was the single most harmful fat in the food supply in terms of promoting heart disease. There now is virtual unanimity among scientists that people should consume as little trans fat as possible from partially hydrogenated oils. You've 65 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 heard figures of under one percent of calories, under two grams a day. That's less than half a teaspoon of trans fat. Ain't much. While my organization began calling for the labeling of trans fat in 1993, the research conducted since then has shown that trans fat is far more harmful than anybody originally suspected. That's why in 2004 CSPI petitioned the FDA to regulate partially hydrogenated oil much more strictly and get it out of the food supply to the greatest extent possible. We also called on the FDA to require restaurants to immediately disclose on menus and menu boards if their foods contained trans fat. And back in 2004 was when Denmark became the first nation to virtually ban partially hydrogenated oils and largely eliminate the presence of artificial trans fat. Denmark has seen a decrease in heart disease deaths that probably is partly due to the ban on trans fat. 66 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 Many food manufacturers, including big ones like Kraft, Frito-Lay and ConAgra, responded to the FDA's labeling requirement by switching to healthier trans free oils. However, restaurants don't provide labeling, and many restaurants have not switched to healthier oils. The legislation you are considering would help protect Philadelphians from a very significant cause of heart disease. Harvard researchers recently estimated that each year trans fat causes 72,000 to 228,000 heart attacks, including about 50,000 deaths each year. S. population, those figures translate into about 360 to 1,140 heart attacks and about 250 deaths annually. Those illnesses and deaths are unnecessary and many could be prevented by the legislation being considered today. The Heart Association and the 67 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 federal government have recommended that Americans get less than that two grams per day. Many restaurant foods contain far more than that. A large order of McDonald's fries provides eight grams of trans fat or about four days' worth. At Burger King, a mom could start the day with eight grams of trans fat in her hash browns while her child consumed four and a half grams in the French Toast Kid's Meal.
At over at Krispy Kreme, most doughnuts contain at least five grams of trans fat. At KFC, a chicken pot pie contains 14 grams of trans fat, seven days' worth of trans fat. Because the FDA has refused to take national action, CSPI has been supporting strong city and state legislation that would get trans fat out of restaurants. The bill you're considering would limit the amount of trans fat in restaurant foods. And it's feasible. Many restaurants, large and small, are demonstrating that they can 68 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 largely get rid of the trans fat. Such big chains as KFC and Taco Bell recently joined Wendy's, Ruby Tuesday, Chili's Grill & Bar and Panera Bread in moving toward healthier oils. Wendy's said that the new oils don't cost any more than the old. Small restaurants, too, such as Ina's Kitchen in Chicago; Katz's Deli in New York; Pete's Kitchen in Denver; Country Diner in Akron, Ohio; Faros Family Restaurant in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and many others have largely eliminated trans fat. Some have said that the switch was cost neutral, while others say that the extra expense was minimal. Legal Sea Foods, a small chain here in the Northeast, told me that their fish tastes better now that it is fried in liquid oil. Disney Theme Parks and Universal Studio Theme Parks have announced that they're getting rid of trans fat from the foods in their parks. 69 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 McDonald's sells foods without trans fats in much of Europe, Israel, Australia, New Zealand and certain other countries but not in Philadelphia or the rest of the United States. Denmark has essentially banned partially hydrogenated oils by setting a two percent limit on the trans fat content of the oils in food. McDonald's, KFC and Burger King, as well as every Danish company, has switched to trans free oils, apparently without any problems or complaints. In sum, if all those restaurants could switch and protect their customers' health, so could every restaurant in Philadelphia. It would be nice if every restaurant switched voluntarily, but they're not. That's why Philadelphia and every other city and state should fulfill their responsibility to protect the public's health by passing legislation such as the bill you are considering. You could save hundreds of 70 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 lives at virtually no cost to citizens and the City and only a temporary modest cost and inconvenience to the restaurants. I hope that the City Council and the Mayor will approve the legislation promptly. Thank you very much for this opportunity to testify.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Jacobson, I want to personally thank you and someone special on your staff that has worked with my legislative aide, Andrew Zalenski, on the trans fat legislation, Mia Dell, for the time and effort your organization put forth with working with us. We appreciate your support and we appreciate the assistance in providing us with information that helped us design this piece of legislation. 71 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 I just want to add to your list of neighborhood eateries that in Philadelphia Tony Luke's, one of our best cheesesteak eateries in this city, told us all a couple weeks ago, he said, I got rid of trans fat a long time ago, and the taste has not changed, obviously by the long lines outside of his eatery around lunchtime and the evening. Again, the role of government in this and the response in the cities that you mentioned where food establishments have on their own, restaurants, have taken it upon themselves to ban the use of trans fat in their food preparation, do you see this as a response of the public letting our food-selling providers that this is our concern and we will patronize you, but you need to make these adjustments so we can continue to patronize you?
I think some restaurants changed because they have responsible owners who said this is the 72 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 healthy thing to do. There are others, the large chains, that are under the microscope and they've endured some bad publicity. McDonald's was sued for saying it would get rid of trans fat and then not doing so. We sued Kentucky Fried Chicken last year for not disclosing that it's using trans fat. And we wanted to get rid of it, and they have said they're going to get rid of it shortly. So it's a variety of reasons. New York City's regulation certainly put the restaurant industry on notice, and so any restaurant that operates in New York City is going to have to change. Dunkin Donuts said that it's going to change in New York City and, because of that, it's going to change everywhere in the country, once it figures out how to do it. One of the previous witnesses was asked why restaurants used it, and one reason is cost, another is stability, 73 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 but a big one is just habit. They're using -- they've been using today whatever they used yesterday. They didn't have an incentive to change. But New York City, maybe Philadelphia, litigation, bad publicity is giving restaurants an incentive. And it's getting easier because the oil producers are coming up with new kinds of oils. Farmers are growing new oil seeds with seeds that can produce oil that is more stable. So that's solving some of the problems that companies might have had five years ago.
St. Joseph University here in Philadelphia recently announced also that they're going to phase out the use of trans fat in their cafeterias at the University, and I want to congratulate and applaud St. Joseph's University. And the School District of Philadelphia, I sent a letter out to them asking them to go in the right direction and ban trans fat in their cafeterias, 74 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 and I'm expecting a positive response.
But I think that the public realizes and all of us are realizing that this is one of those issues, one of those things that we have to do, that we can debate. The smoking ban was a very big debate in this town, but it was the right thing to do. And I travel, like my other colleagues and many of us in this room, we travel in all parts of the city, and I see our restaurants doing just as well. Lately I've seen them packed. And we know that for the better good of the overall population of the people, we in government do have a responsibility and we just cannot just say, Well, we don't want to intrude. If it is for the betterment of the public health of our citizens, government in fact has had a historical role of involvement.
One of the restauranteurs in Chicago told me that 75 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 she wants the Health Department coming into her restaurant and looking for roaches and testing the temperature of the refrigerator and freezer. She says, Because if they come into my restaurant, I know they're going to the other guys' restaurant and that makes for a level playing field. And she's one of those who got rid of the trans fat, and she thinks it was easy for her and that every restaurant can do it. Compared to a smoking ban, this is almost a freebie, because it's so easy for restaurants to switch to healthier fats and oils. And I think you asked a previous witness or he said that he wasn't -- he was concerned about restaurants switching to other harmful fats and oils, and, in fact, I don't know of a single instance where restaurants or food processors have not improved the oils that they're using when they got rid of trans. And even if they switched to butter, which is promoting heart disease, 76 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 or palm oil or lard, those are all better than partially hydrogenated oil. You can't do wrong. But the restaurant industry has almost universally when they switch, they go to a much healthier liquid oil. For baked goods, a pie crust won't work with canola oil or soy bean oil. You have to use something that's a harder fat. But what they've been using for Oreo cookies and so on has been always better than that partially hydrogenated oil. We can't lose. And it sounds like the only cost to the City is hiring a couple more health inspectors and a couple of educators, which is a minimal cost considering the lives that you're going to save. And a companion bill, as the previous witness mentioned, Councilwoman Brown, I think is very important also, which is menu labeling, to get calories right up on the menu board so people can make an informed choice. They go into Starbucks, they know that this drink has 77 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 600 calories. And McDonald's, they know that a cheeseburger has this many calories, that that will, I think, make a real dent in the obesity problem that affects this city and every other place in the country. I would be glad to work with you on that.
We welcome that completely. And, again, I want to go on the record thanking both you and the former witness with The Food Trust for your testimony, and when I hear what is happening in other countries around the world, then, yes, there's no reason why Philadelphia can't get in line and follow the leadership of New York on this issue. Thank you for your testimony.
Thank you. We appreciate your testimony. Let me just ask you, how about vegetable oil? 78 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 Does that --
Vegetable oil, are there hydrogenated fats in there, vegetable oil?
There are different oils. Oils like soy bean oil, corn oil, canola oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, those are all perfectly fine and they actually will tend to reduce the risk of heart disease by doing good things to the cholesterol levels. There are other vegetable oils, palm oil and coconut oil, that aren't as good. They are better than partially hydrogenated oil but not as good.
Olive oil is certainly one of the good ones. It won't be used in restaurants much because it has a taste. You don't want your French fries tasting of olives. And it's so 79 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 expensive. And that's why most restaurants won't switch to butter, because it's so expensive compared to canola oil or some other oil.
We're all getting an education here today. Next we have Dom Giordano. (No response.)
Bonita Cummings? Is there anyone else here to testify on this bill? Oh, here she is. Okay.
My name is Bonita Cummings. I am the Director of Strawberry Mansion Community Concern, elected Committeewoman, the 28th Ward, 80 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 13th Division. My qualifications to this issue is my certification as a holistic health consultant and my present studies of holistic assessment at Delaware Valley Naturopathic Medical Association Nutritional Health Series. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment. It is not so much the dying as much as it is the quality of that dying. Further, people are filling up with disease and dying prematurely, and God is not pleased with dying from trans fats. Trans fats - hydrogenated oil causes, develops, promotes or is linked to heart disease, stroke, lethargy, multiple sclerosis, obesity, gallstones, blood sugar problems, hypertension, cellulite, malnutrition and hypoglycemia. Also, it builds plaque in the arteries, hardening them. This hinders circulation and passage of nutrients to the cells. Hardening of the arteries from trans fats 81 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 is a direct link, it's a direct link, to the violence of the children. They can't breathe. It is also the reason for the high incidence of asthma. That brings me to this point: On the Zoning Board Alert List, from January 31, 2007 to February 7, 2007, there are trans fat, fast food 10 applicants. That's in one week. The 11 Zoning Board will see 13 applicants, and 12 if they all pass, they will be spread 13 about this city in different corner neighborhood stores. Each week thereafter there is at least another one to 13 applicants. Remember, we only have 28 health inspectors to 14,000 already restaurant establishments. If this bill passes through Council, it is not to take effect until September 1, 2007. In the meantime, the neighborhood districts, particularly North, West and Southwest Philadelphia, will get 20 to 50 more corner stores that is causing disease and 82 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 killing the residents, especially the children. So if we're serious about this bill, No. 060958, trans fats, we have to look at how the Zoning Board of Adjustment is continuing to give the neighborhood communities in the next week more trans fat businesses. Even if this bill doesn't pass, we need a moratorium on trans fat neighborhood corner stores right now. They are pouring into Philadelphia by the thousands. Why and is it necessary to have neighborhoods fill up with dangerous businesses? Even if the bill passes, enforcement for neighborhood stores will be a challenge, especially since these businesses presently operate above the law. Trans fat oil collection in neighborhood businesses is presently a problem. When was the oil last changed? When was it picked up, et cetera? So if the Council could have some dialogue 83 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 around the issue of enforcement and regulation, it, too, would be most appreciated. Oil should never be used or reused after it has once been heated. In neighborhood businesses, this is done all the time. It is the chemicals used in or around the seed that they make the oil from that causes the diseases we see in our children and women, especially breast cancer and heart disease, chemicals like hexane, nickel, et cetera. Attached to my testimony I put some pictures so that you could see what a trans fat oil spill looks like over the City of Philadelphia streets. And, again, trans fats from the influx of neighborhood corner stores killing or causing disease in hundreds of people a day, whether this bill passes or not, needs to be addressed today. Thank you.
Thank you very much for your testimony. 84 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 Are there any questions? (No response.)
We certainly appreciate your continued advocacy for the health of the citizens of Philadelphia, particularly when you fight for your neighbors, you fight for everybody, and we appreciate that and thank you for coming out to testify. Councilman.
Ms. Cummings, I echo the same sentiments of our Chairperson, Councilwoman Tasco. I was commenting to my colleague, Blondell Reynolds Brown, that you sure took it right to the grassroots like you always do and brought some interesting angles on this, like the issue of zoning, how many establishments are going before Zoning. I'm optimistic that we're going to be able to get this bill passed and I sure will be calling on all my colleagues to join me and the Committee to get this 85 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 bill made into law, and the Zoning Board will know that this law will be in effect and that they need to, when they approve or disapprove zoning, make sure that these questions of trans fat and other issues that you have been a champion of for a number of years are also addressed. So we appreciate -- I appreciate your testimony this morning.
Thank you. I just wanted to say violence right now is a major, major issue and concern. Trans fats clog arteries. Blood carries oxygen. And because our children cannot breathe, it causes them to be very agitated, and that agitation does not allow for them when they leave home in the morning to go to school and be diligent and pay attention. And it also makes them irritated when you touch them, when you talk to them. They can't breathe. And if you've ever seen a person have an asthma attack or a person that blood sugar is low or high, it 86 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 appears as if they're thrashing. And that's part of the problem with the children. So as we address the trans fat issue, it should definitely help with some of the agitation of the children in the City of Philadelphia. Thank you.
Thank you very much. What we're going to do, Toby, before you come to testify, we're going to go into our public meeting. Councilwoman Miller has to go and we want to vote this bill out of Committee. And then we'll go back into the public meeting, have your testimony, and then Ms. Foster will come forth and end it with her demonstration. Is that okay?
We will now go into our public meeting, and the Chair calls on Councilman Ramos regarding Bill 060958.
Thank you, 87 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 Madam Chair. I move that Bill No. 060958 be reported out of Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading of this bill at our next Council meeting. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and seconded that Bill 060958 be reported out of Committee with a favorable recommendation and that the rules of Council be suspended so that this bill will be heard at the next session of Council. All in favor will say aye. (Aye.)
There being no opposition, the motion is carried. Thank you very much. Thank you, Councilwoman Miller, for coming back, but we now go back into 88 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 the public hearing. Mr. Toby. Thank you very much. Identify yourself.
Yes. Good afternoon, Councilwoman Tasco, Councilman Ramos, Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown. I'm Toby Rich from Scoop and I'm called the "Mayor of Girard Avenue." You know what? I got some notes, but, you know, I want to talk from my heart on this because I want to commend you, Mr. Ramos, on this. You know, I've recently lost my beloved father to -- he had a bad heart and he had like about four or five bypasses. And when I talked with my brother in Florida about dad's position, he was saying, Tob, if dad had had a better diet, things could have been a little different. Dad was eating hoagies and cheesesteaks and all the stuff we love here in Philadelphia. And don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking that stuff, but I realize now that the fast foods -- 89 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 because I didn't just lose my father. I lost quite a few friends that were 45, 50, 60 and losing them to heart attacks. Young kids having strokes. I saw a very obese young man have a heart attack, and my other mother was taking care of him. And to find out that all you had to do was change the oil, like in an automobile, change the oil. Dunkin Donuts, I love their doughnuts, and all they have to do is change the oil. And, you know, we look past something like this, but what you did by bringing this to the table, Councilman Ramos, is allow us to see that we have a problem. If we were to fix the violence problem today, this thing with fats would be on the agenda, because we have people dying from heart attack, dying from stroke, dying from various diseases from eating food. And the food is wrong because the stuff that's used to prepare the food is the wrong stuff. I see Councilman Clarke and I 90 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 want to thank him because I know this is something that he would work on, because there are people in his district up there on Girard Avenue -- we just had Mr. Bo White, an old head. Bo is 80, but we ain't ready for him to die yet. He had a stroke. And we're losing people. And I don't want to go on long, but I just want to say I want to thank ya'll for bringing something to the table like this. I know I've been getting real corny lately, it's bothering me, but I'm glad God, in his infinite wisdom, is allowing me to find things that are helping us as a city and getting me in touch with seeing things that I saw people die from and be able to bring it to the table and say, Hey, you know what, if we change the oil in this doughnut, if we eat a bran flake instead of this other stuff, if we change the oil that we use to cook that cheesesteak, we might save somebody's life. And if we can do that right here in the City of Brotherly Love 91 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 with sisterly affection, pointing kids in the right direction, if we can do it here, it can be done anywhere. Thank you.
Thank you very much for your testimony. While Ms. Foster is coming forward, I'd like to recognize the fact that we have a letter of testimony which will be entered into the record from Manuel Miraball, President and CEO of the National Puerto Rican Coalition; Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Dr. Carlos A. Camargo, Jr., Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School and member of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee; Dr. Wahida Karmally, Associate Research Scientist, Director of Nutrition for The Irving Center for Clinical Research, Columbia University, along with numerous e-mails from citizens from Philadelphia. Thank you. Good afternoon. 92 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 Would you proceed with your testimony, Ms. Foster.
Good afternoon. I am grateful to Councilwoman Tasco, our Chair Lady, and to Councilmembers for allowing me to -- I don't have a speech or a script, but I always like to show by demonstrating. So I'm going to, if you don't mind -- and this is lunchtime, and I think since we don't have so many people, I'm going to introduce now those who are going to share by way of allowing you to taste what we consider is easy, affordable, it's tasty and it's healthy. So I'm going to show how easy it is. I would like for you to see one of the young people whom we train who is a part of one of our after-school programs at Travelers Aid, the Director of that program, Mr. Meltrum Monk (ph). They have allowed her to leave school a little early so that they could serve you. Desiree Mitchell. Desiree, could you just come 93 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 out for a minute? She made me promise that we won't have her make a speech. But Desiree is one of those we have certified as a junior Chef in Red. And by the way, I forgot to say I'm Gwen Foster with the Mayor's Office of Health and Fitness. And the young lady you see in red with the chef's cap, that's Juanita Alexander, one of our trainers out of our Office of Health and Fitness. And we provide training to lay people, give them skills. First of all, an appreciation for healthy foods, and then give them the skills. That's true empowerment. And then we leave them in their circles of influence in the community. And we've discovered with our Chefs in Red, whether they are the adults or the children, the communities hear them a lot better than they hear me, because they figure I'm paid to give these messages. But we just want you to see how easy it is these young people prepare 94 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 these foods. We give them instruction not only in nutrition principles but sanitation, and they are very credible and they're becoming a national -- they're popular nationally now. And so I would like -- I don't know how we can do this. Can we serve everybody in here or can we --
What we will do, we will adjourn this hearing and then people can just come up and be served. And we thank you so much for having them prepare this demonstration for us. And Councilman Ramos will end the session with his comments.
Did I fail to say that? Of course. Not only -- you know, there's good, better, best. There are good things, there are better things, but we've started our training with the best. 95 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 Since year 2000, they have not used any trans fats. As a matter of fact, no 4 saturated fats. As a matter of fact, no 5 animal protein. And people hardly recognize the difference. So I want you to see the burgers that these kids put together with their own style. They're extremely tasty. They're oat burgers, if you will, on whole grain buns. They know how to make the whole thing from scratch. So we've trained them with the best, zero trans fats, no saturated fats, no animal fats, totally healthy. And we're cooperating with our colleagues in the Health Department. We work together. And, yes, we're prepared to give that kind of training to our constituents. Thank you for having us, and I hope you enjoy what our Chefs in Red have prepared for you.
Thank you, but I see that we had someone come in briefly to make a comment. 96 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 Would you come and identify yourself? We're sorry. We had called for other people to testify. You probably just got here.
Good afternoon. And I apologize. I don't mean to ruin lunch. My name is Wayne Grasela. I'm Director of Food Services for the School District of Philadelphia. With me here I have Joan Nachmani, who is not only Director of our Nutrition Education Program at the District but also the Coordinator of Dietetic Services. And I wanted Councilman Ramos to acknowledge the fact that the District is represented here. We are in receipt of your letter. Thank you very much. And that the District is fully supportive of this movement. I do not have a prepared testimony. I apologize. I did not receive the notice until yesterday afternoon and I could not put it together. However, we intend to develop 97 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 a position letter or statement and we will provide it to Council to give you a full understanding of what the District's position is on this and the direction we're going to go with this.
I'm Joan Nachmani. I'm the Director of the Nutrition Education Program for the School District and have worked very closely with the beverage policy as of July 2004 and worked in actually drafting a snack policy which addressed fat issues as well. Unfortunately, we were a little proactive or, should I say, fortunately we were proactive in trying to develop a snack policy and pass that through the District and set snack standards, one being total fat and saturated. At the 98 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 time in 2004, trans fat was not in the forefront of the news, and labeling issues were not addressed as well with trans fat content, but what I would like to say is as part of our wellness policy that we've established as of the beginning of this school year, which was mandated across the country, we have rolled our beverage policy, which you're well aware of, our snack policy standards in there, as well as nutrition education standards, health standards, physical activity standards into an approved policy by the District, and in that policy we will review and make adjustments in the snack standards with total fat, saturated fat listed there as seven grams or less for total fat per serving, two grams or less for saturated fast per serving, and hopefully make an amendment in that policy for trans fats as well, that we will try to eliminate the use of trans fats in our wellness policy and state that in the policy. 99 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958
You will probably discuss that again when the School Board comes before Council in the spring.
Just thank you for that pleasant surprise from the School District of Philadelphia. And I know that you work on it and make it effective. We'll work together with the Chair of this Committee and I on making sure that whatever you need and information, whatever it takes for you to implement a trans fat free cafeteria in our school system. Thank you so much.
You're quite 100 1/25/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 060958 welcome. Thank you.
I simply wanted to go on record to say a huge thank you to the School District for taking a very aggressive position with regards to the sodas in the schools and just acted very aggressively in response to, as I said, local bottlers who had other views about this, and simply to put that on the record. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. There being no other testimony, this hearing is adjourned. (Committee on Public Health and Human Services adjourned at 12:05 p.m.) - - - 101 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on January 25, 2007, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)