Tax the Fat!At a conference this week, former city health commissioner Thomas Frieden floated a radical proposal. (Sort of.)
ByJessica Pressler
Health Concerns
Health Commissioner Goes After SaltWill ‘Top Chef’ judges be banned from eliminating contestants because they didn’t use enough of the stuff?
ByDaniel Maurer
Trans-Fat Express
McDonald’s Kicking Mad Over Possible Trans-Fat Ban
We hope the city’s coffers are full, because this time they may have picked a fight with the wrong enemy. McDonald’s, never a fan of regulation in any form, has hired a high-powered attorney, former deputy mayor Randy Mastro, to block the NYC Health Department from banning delicious trans fats, and the fast-food industry will no doubt be watching closely. The crux of the matter seems to be the question of whether government officials (i.e., city health commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden) can decide such matters by fiat or whether such a ban requires the assent of the legislature. No need to ask us which side we’re on; we’re still mourning the loss of beef tallow from McDonald’s cooking oil in 1990.
McDonald’s Readies for NYC Trans Fat Fight [Crain’s New York Business]