Beware of Burger King
January 5th, 2008 Posted in Current Events
A recent report published by Health Canada reveals that Burger King is indeed the King of trans fat. Trans fat is cheap for the manufacturers but poisonous for the consumers. Trans fat lowers good cholesterol (HDL) and increases bad cholesterol (LDL). We get trans fat when liquid oils are converted to solid fats. This process is called hydrogenation. Hydrogen is added to vegetable oil. Trans fat increases shelf life and gives food taste and texture.
Canada is trying to make trans fat limit no more than five percent of total fat. Recent report finds that some companies are reducing them in some products but Burger King failed to reduce trans fat in any products. Let’s look at trans fat percentage in French fries.
- Burger King 43.8
- McDonald’s 4.2
- Wendy’s 6.8
- KFC 1.7
Source: Health Canada website
Burger King was quick to react to Health Canada report. Burger King Canada stated that it is one of their highest priorities to make their restaurants added trans fat free by the end of 2008. As a consumer what you can do to protect yourself from trans fat ? When you buy packaged foods, look for theses words: hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated, vegetable shortenings as the word trans fat may not always appear on labels . Try to avoid too many trips to fast food restaurants and use Health Canada website to check how is your favourite fast food restaurants doing cutting trans fat. Click here for more information – Trans Fat Monitoring Programme
