[dread78645]

Wasn’t trans-fat a result of the FDA’s war on real fat?

Not the FDA, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).

In the early 1980s, the CSPI and other food nannies activists campaigned for McD, KFC, & BK, et al, to stop using saturated fats (beef tallow for deep fryers & lard for baking) and start using the healthy alternative: vegetable oil.

Now, the vegetable oil industry knew that vegetable oils goes rancid after a few months and makes baked goods taste stale and greasy; so manufacturers used a process known since the 1920s for shortenings and margarine called 'hydrogenation'.
Hydrogenation adds a hydrogen atom to the 'trans' side (as opposed to the normal 'cis' side) of the fat chain. Thus the term 'trans-fat'.

The Oiling of America
‘Hypocrisy’ on trans fat
Regulators to Take CSPI’s New Advice, Ignore CSPI’s Old Advice
Rise and fall of trans fat: A history of partially hydrogenated oil

[Kenny]

Thanks for the explanation, wasn’t sure how we got in that hole. But it’s like eggs, first they said don’t eat them, they’re deadly but now they’re good for you.

Here’s a novel idea, why don’t these people just worry about what they’re eating and leave the rest of us alone. I think they did that once upon a time, what was it called?

Oh yeah, Democracy.

[Texan5]

Thanks for the refresher on hydrogenation-I’d forgotten how icky it was.