No trans fats? No problem, food carts say

For many of Penn's food carts, it's no trans fats, no problem.

In light of City Council's recent legislation banning trans fats citywide, restaurants have been scrambling to replace offending cooking oils and spreads before the bill goes into effect Sept. 1.

But in the case of Penn's local food trucks, trans fats have always been a thing of the past.

Trans fats - which experts say provide little nutritional value while causing heart disease - are present in large quantities in artificial oils that are often used in fried food.

Chain restaurants like Wendy's and KFC eliminated trans fats ahead of the ban, and Penn Dining Services recently switched to trans-fat-free cooking oils.

The upcoming ban wouldn't be an issue for food carts, however.

Many campus food trucks say they have long used vegetable cooking oil, explaining that it's a must to cater to health-conscious Penn students.

"I use nothing percent [trans] fat for my customers," said Hemo Abdulazziz, who owns the Hemo's food carts at 37th and Spruce streets and 38th and Walnut streets.

Abdulazziz only uses vegetable oil when cooking, which he says keeps his customers happy.

"My sandwiches have no grease, no nothing on it," he said.

At Dulett's Jamaica Wings on the 200 block of 38th Street, customers often order grilled foods like the jerked chicken over fattier fried items on the menu. Others who do go for the fried food are glad when they hear no synthetic oils are used, owner Dulett Wright said.

"Some people ask what kind of oil I use, and I told them soy, and they were comfortable with that," Wright said.

Even Chinese food carts Yue kee and The Real Le Anh that deep fry dumplings do so in vegetable oil.

"We've always used vegetable oil. I've never tried animal fat or anything," said Elizabeth To, who prepares food at The Real Le Anh. "Most students like things boiled in water instead of fried, . [and] even for a stir-fry, we use very little oil."

City Council would likely be glad to hear that vegetable oils are already a staple in Philadelphia's food carts. Currently, the Health Department has not developed a means to enforce the ban, but trans-fats will now be something they check for during yearly inspections.

There will also be no penalty for breaking the ban.

Josh Cohen, a spokesman for Councilman Juan Ramos, who sponsored the trans-fat bill, said he expects most food establishments to comply regardless.

But with so many non-native English speakers manning food trucks, language barriers may be the first roadblock to citywide compliance.

To help food establishments prepare for the September change, the Health Department will talk with individual food carts and is working on flyers that would explain the difference between lard, synthetic and vegetable oils, Cohen said.

"It's the smaller mom-and-pop shops that need to know what the law is, and that's what this education campaign will do," Cohen said.

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