Something about that cheesesteak seem off lately?
Don't blame Geno's just yet.
The city's celebrated trans-fat ban which prohibits eateries from frying foods in trans fat and from serving trans-fat-based spreads (like margarine) went into effect on September 1.
Bakery owners, however, whose establishments are scheduled to be affected by the ban next September, aren't giving in without a fight. City Councilwoman Joan Krajewski introduced a bill over the summer to exempt smaller bakeries from the ban, arguing that it was unfair to mom-and-pop stores.
We agree and challenge Councilwoman Krajewski to up the ante - introduce legislation to repeal the misguided ban altogether.
The city is rightfully concerned with the health risks that trans fat present - clogged arteries and heart disease - but there are better ways for Philadelphia to fight trans fat than dictating what its residents can and cannot consume. The city could promote awareness of the dangers of trans fat and require restaurateurs who use them to prominently disclose that information. Philadelphia could incentivize switching to healthier substitutes through tax breaks or other means.
It may seem easier to just ban the dreaded partially hydrogenated oils and be done with it, but tampering with basic freedoms (even simply the right to eat what one chooses) shouldn't be met with such nonchalance. Basic civil liberties shouldn't be whimsically tossed aside in favor of the latest health trend.
Eating trans fat is stupid, but so is drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes or not getting enough sleep and exercise. Would we be healthier if the government mandated ten hours of sleep a night and illegalized alcohol? Definitely. Would we better off as a nation for it? Absolutely not.
In all likelihood, the trans-fat ban, signed into law last February to much fanfare, has no chance of being repealed. But City Council would do well to take the bakeries' complaints seriously when they get their hearing and reconsider the implications of their ban.
