My name is Rachel Griehs. I am a registered dietician and have a Master's degree in clinical 123 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511 nutrition from New York University. I am employed at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where I am a clinical dietician specialist for the Bariatric Surgery Program. I am also an adjunct lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania where I teach a course called Nutrition Sciences and Applications. Four hundred thousand deaths per year in the United States are related to poor diet and health. This is up from 300,000 in 1992. At present, tobacco use is the leading cause of death at 435,000. In 1992, death from tobacco use was 400,000. At this rate, poor diet and health will soon be the number one reason for deaths in the United States. The 2005 Dietary Guidelines say that we should limit the intake of fats and oils high in saturated or trans fats by choosing foods low in these types of fats. The recommendation is to have as little trans fat in the diet as possible. 124 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511 Saturated fat should be no more than ten percent of total calories. Trans fats have been shown to have similar effects on the body as saturated fats, which is an increase in LDL cholesterol, the bad cholesterol. However, trans fats have also been known to lower the good cholesterol, HDL cholesterol. HDL cholesterol acts like a sponge and soaks up the bad cholesterol and takes it to the liver where they are eliminated. Trans fats also increase the ability for platelets to clump and form blood clots that will block the artery. This can lead to a heart attack or stroke. A 1993 Harvard study supports the hypothesis from Welsh researchers in 1991 that partially hydrogenated oils contribute to a risk of having a heart attack. The study also estimated that by replacing two percent of the energy from trans fat, this would decrease the risk of coronary heart disease by one-third. 125 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511 A research study in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2006 showed that by eliminating trans fat from the U.S. food supply, this could prevent between six to percent of heart attack 7 or related deaths each year, which is 8 currently at 1.2 million per year. For 9 this reason, no one should be able to use 10 trans fats. 11 Thank you. 12
Thank you 13 very much for your testimony. 14 Next? 15
My name is Amy 16 Edelman. I own the Night Kitchen Bakery 17 in Chestnut Hill. The bakery has been 18 there for 24 years, but I bought it seven 19 years ago. When I first bought the bakery, the couple hundred recipes that were given to me, many of them had margarine as well as butter in their recipes, and I chose to switch from all the recipes, minus one, which is pie dough. All the other recipes I switched 126 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511 immediately from margarine to butter, and the reason that I did that is, I kind of knew some of the controversy about margarine at the time and that it was possibly very bad for your health, which has now been proven, but also because I don't like the taste of margarine. I find it has like a slick kind of greasy aftertaste, and butter is just a tastier ingredient. We use all-natural ingredients at the bakery, and it's a lot more expensive to use all-natural ingredients, but I found that in all the recipes that I switched out the margarine for butter, actually I had no comments from my customers. I don't know that any of them knew that there was any difference, but it was a difference to me. And I knew that it was going to cost me a lot of money to do that. A case of margarine is about $15 to $20 versus a case of butter which is about $60 to $70, and that does change. And I totally understand why 127 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511 bakeries would be very upset about having to incur that cost if they have to switch their margarine to butter. It's a very expensive thing to have to do. But I chose to absorb part of that cost and to pass some of the cost on to my customers through increasing prices. And I know a lot of business owners are also very wary of that. They're afraid that they're going to lose customers if they increase prices. I can tell you from my experience over the past seven years that every time I increase prices, I worry, and I almost never get comments. And my products are not cheap. They're pretty expensive. I'm probably one of the most expensive bakeries in the City. And I never -- my business has increased over the past seven years every single year ten to 20 percent. I have not lost any business because of the increase in prices. Also one of the reasons that I decided to eliminate the margarine is 128 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511 because it's not a natural ingredient and I'm also a strong supporter of artisan cooking. Ancient recipes, recipes -- when I went to the Culinary Institute of America, and recipes that I gathered working in five-star hotels over the years and restaurants did not have margarine and shortening in them. Ancient recipes use butter because margarine has only been around for five to six decades; whereas, of course, butter and other ingredients like that have been around for centuries. But I really believe that the long-term cost of the consumption of trans fats, we all pay for that in increased healthcare, increase in our health insurance. So I really believe that it will be eliminated from the diet eventually. It's just a matter of time. And people need to get on board and really do it now, because it's just going to be a lot more expensive to do it later. 129 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511
Thank you very much. It doesn't seem like we have any better choice, whether it's butter or trans fat. It's all bad for you, I guess.
Good afternoon. I'm Rebecca Michaels and I own the Flying Monkey Patisserie at Reading Terminal Market. No one ever said a cupcake was good for you, but why make it worse with the use of cheap artificial ingredients? When I was in pastry training at the French Culinary Institute, we never once used trans fats in any of our recipes, and in the six years that I have been baking professionally, vegetable shortening and margarine have never had a home on my kitchen shelf. It is absolutely possible to altogether avoid using these products in commercial food settings. And as far as taste is concerned, there is simply no substitute 130 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511 for butter. I guarantee you that a cupcake made with butter will win hands down in a blind taste test over a cupcake made with fake fat. In baking, you get what you pay for, and in my opinion, if you make your product with cheap artificial ingredients, the end result will be a cheap poor-tasting product. The argument that certain recipes won't work without the use of trans fat is frankly shortsighted and doesn't speak to the creativity of the bakers on both sides of this argument. Traditional baking was designed to use products from nature. And bakeries that use artificial products to make substandard goods are harming their customers to save a few pennies. And to put it quite bluntly, quality baking is simply an expensive business. At Flying Monkey we have always used butter. None of our recipes have ever included trans fat, and I hope that 131 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511 the samples I've brought from our bakery speak for themselves in terms of quality and taste, which is why I supported the initial passage of the trans fat ban by the Council and oppose the exemption of bakery products from that law. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Any questions from members of the panel? (No response.)
Thank you very much for your testimony. We now have George Gringos, Julia Mielcarz and Connie Jesiolowski.
Madam Chair, I just wanted to thank Connie from Szypula's and Julia and Maureen from Julia Cafe and Hercules from the Aramingo Diner. They've been here since 9 o'clock this morning. So I just wanted to thank them for waiting around like this. They're to be applauded, believe me. 132 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511
Thank you very much for your testimony and thank you for your patience. (Applause.)
Madam Chairwoman, members of the Committee, my name is Hercules Gringos and my family has owned and operated the Aramingo Diner in Port Richmond since 1957. I'm here to offer testimony today in support of the amendment that Councilwoman Krajewski has forwarded, which will exempt small bakeries from the so-called trans fat ban. Since 1957, the Aramingo Diner has been serving the community, offering hearty home-cooked meals and pastries at affordable prices. We recently celebrated our 50th anniversary and grand reopening after a fire devastated the diner closing our doors for three months. The rebuilding effort was difficult, but we were excited to open our doors again to serve our long-time loyal customers. 133 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511 Since the passage of the trans fat ban, we have made efforts to replace our products to come into compliance with the law. One area that the ban has had a significantly negative effect is in our bakery. The Aramingo Diner takes pride in its baked goods. We are proud that all of our baking is done on premises and we offer freshly baked goods at reasonable prices. And I just want to say, our customers are neighborhood people. They're union people. They're hard workers. And we think that we do volume and we sell cakes at better prices than you get at supermarkets or at some of the other chains, and I think that's an important point to note, because we're serving working members of the community. We've been experimenting with the new products for our strawberry shortcake, muffins, Danish, pies and other products, and we believe without 134 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511 the shortenings that are included in our recipes, our products are just not the same. While we appreciate Council's interest in protecting the health of the residents of the City, we believe that the trans fat ban overreaches and will have a deleterious effect on our baking business. Our baking business, while only a percentage of our overall business, is still integral in our business model. It's difficult enough for a family-operated business to compete with the advertising and research and development dollars of large chains and supermarkets. We believe that we've been able to survive and excel because our products are simply better. As such, we stand here with the other business leaders and ask that Council exempt our bakery and other bakeries from this ban. I also just want to say we employ about 100 people, and I think that -- we've been there a long time, and 135 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511 I think that if we were to lose our baking business, that would have a tremendously negative impact on our business overall. So I thank you for your time.
Good afternoon. I think I'm representing the blue-collar bakeries, because having bakeries maybe in specialized areas --
I'm sorry. My name is Connie Jesiolowski from Szypula Bakery located at 3050 Richmond Street in Port Richmond. We're a small bakery. We're struggling to keep our doors open. I'm the owner of Szypula Bakery and I'm upholding a reputation for making traditional Polish baked goods that bring people back to the neighborhood at Christmas and the Easter holidays. We are known for babkas. We have cheese, raisin, fruit, poppy and nut 136 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511 rolls, hawa, pound cake and our sourdough rye and pumpernickel breads. We are especially known for our chrusciki, which is what I placed on the table. It's a Polish delicacy that ours is known throughout the tristate area, as well as Virginia, California, Colorado and Hawaii. I bought some for tasting today. Our original recipe has been in my family for many generations from Poland to the United States. We experimented with zero trans fat and diverted from this original recipe. The taste of our chrusciki changed from a subtle sweet flavor, which is what our customers expect, to a bland greasy dough taste with a much shorter shelf life. I noticed a further breakdown of taste after three weeks. Actually, I was surprised with the noticeable difference. Since we use no 22 preservatives in any of our baked goods, this is a major factor for us in both cost and quality by using zero trans fats. 137 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511 Our costs are constantly going up all the time for bakery ingredients. In fact, one of our chief suppliers recently notified us of an increase of six percent across the board. In order for us to survive at our location, which has been there since the 1930s, we cannot afford the higher costs of zero trans fat change, let alone changing a long-held tradition of our chruscikis' quality and taste. This could possibly lead the way for our customers to purchase chruscikis and our other babkas in the supermarkets where the chrusciki and babkas are not held to Philadelphia laws of trans fat. If this trans fat ban is not changed, Szypula Bakery just may become a memory and not the destination where people go at Easter and Christmas for their authentic Polish baked goods. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. 138 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511 Good afternoon and thank you for your patience.
Good afternoon. My name is Julia Mielcarz and I am the owner of Julia Bakery and Cafe in Port Richmond. We opened in 2005 and celebrate our second anniversary tomorrow. For years I bake at home. I was born in Poland and came to America 12 years ago. The recipe I brought with me 13 are the same recipe as I use in my cafe. 14 The batter we use here is a different 15 batter we use in Poland. It is much 16 harder. And if we use it, the texture 17 will be different. I try to use all kind 18 of batter here, but any of them didn't 19 taste like a Fleischmann and salted 20 margarine, which is very similar to 21 Polish salt butter. Our most popular 22 product is like a Polish cannoli. We 23 also make cakes, pies and babkas. I ask City Council to allow me to continue to make my recipe and allow 139 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511 my customers to decide. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Any questions or comments? (Applause.)
Thank you so much for coming and thank you for your patience. Is there anyone else here to testify on this bill? (No response.)
There being no other witnesses, we will take a three-minute recess. Don't go away. (Short recess.)
All right. We're now in session again. We'd like to go from the public hearing into the public meeting, and the Chair recognizes Councilman Ramos for a proposed amendment.
Thank you, Councilwoman Tasco. 140 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511 In today's hearing I think we've learned a lot about the viewpoints on all sides of the Philadelphia law on banning trans fat in the proposed bill by my colleague, Joan Krajewski. During the hearing I heard three establishments state that they would have no problems with disclosure of them being not trans fat-free. I believe those were Termini's, Stock's and Haegele's Bakery. After hearing their testimony saying that they would have no problems, I am willing at this time to go along with the exception of the bakeries with the amendment. I have circulated the amendment to the members of this Committee. It would keep the Bill No. 19 070511 intact as proposed by Councilwoman Krajewski, and in bold letters you will see that the amendment would include this language: "Provided further that any such establishment or location where bakery products containing trans fat are sold, the owner or operator of the 141 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511 establishment must post in a clear and conspicuous location and format a sign stating that some or all bakery products offered for sale are not free of trans fat." Madam Chair, I move that the amendment that has been circulated -- have you had time to read the amendments? I move that the amendment as previously described regarding Bill No. 070511 be adopted. (Duly seconded.)
Thank you. It has been moved and seconded that we adopt the amendment provided by Councilman Ramos. All in favor? (Aye.)
Also, just for the record, Councilman Goode and Councilman O'Neill are not present here and did not have the opportunity to -- 142 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511 Madam Chair, Councilmen Goode and O'Neill did not have the opportunity to hear this discussion relative to the amendment and I don't know how they would have voted, so I don't know whether or not we're getting an accurate reflection of the Committee, the Committee's wishes on this without them here. Now, they left their vote voting for the amendment exempting the bakeries, but they did not agree to, as far as I remember, an amendment requiring a sign.
But nevertheless, we're voting on an amendment. So if the amendment is approved, because we do have quorum, we have four people here, that it will be an amendment to the aye vote that they left behind on the original bill.
I mean, Councilwoman Krajewski can speak for herself, but I would suspect that this is not a friendly amendment to her bill. 143 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511 It's not as if she's agreeing that this is something she wants.
I'm asking for the Committee who did vote for the amendment that was introduced, that I introduced, exempting the small bakeries. That's it. No other amendment.
Well, we'll have to vote it. If he presents it, we have to vote it up or down, and since there are only two for and two against, the amendment fails.
I understand that you have an amendment before you.
The amendment fails because there are only two for and two against.
The sign amendment. 144 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511
We don't know yet, but we'll find out shortly. So then we move on to your amendment as presented.
Councilman Ramos' amendment fails for lack of a majority vote.
I didn't hear that vote being -- I heard one opposition vote to my amendment. And so did you, ma'am?
So the 145 10/10/07 - PUBLIC HEALTH - BILL 070511 record reflects that already?