"Trans fat from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil is a toxic substance that does not belong in food."

This direct quote from Dr. Walter Willett, Chair of Harvard School of Public Health Department of Nutrition, doesn't beat around the bush about the dangers of artificial trans fats. Artificial trans fats have been shown to increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and other medical conditions charcterized by excess inflammation.

The United States government began requiring the labeling of artificial trans fats on grocery store foods in 2006. Even so, consumers need to be savvy about identifying hidden trans fats since amounts of less than .5 grams per serving do not have to be declared on the nutrition label. If the ingredient list includes the words "partially hydrogenated", "hydrogenated", or "shortening", the product contains artificial trans fats.

From fast food to fine dining, most restaurant ingredients contain artificial trans fats.

It's a common misconception that only less expensive, fast food restaurants and donut shops use ingredients that contain artificial trans fats but nothing could be further from the truth.

Nearly all restaurants, hospitals, and schools purchase their ingredients from one of just a few major food service wholesalers like Sysco, US Food Service, or Reinhart Foods, and an overwhelming percentage of the products they sell contain artificial trans fats.  Artificial trans fats are prevalent in restaurant ingredients because they increase shelf life, reduce the need for refrigeration, enhance the flavor of marginal ingredients, and lower costs.

The good news for everyone is that the efforts of California and major cities like New York to ban trans fats in restaurant foods leads to a trickle down effect for other parts of the country.  To be cost effective, food manufacturers can't afford to produce two different formulas—one with trans fats and one without—so the eventual result will be new formulations that do not contain trans fats.

The biggest concern for the future will be the safety of potential alternative solutions to trans fats since the food service industry is likely to quickly embrace any new processes that can extend shelf life and reduce costs.

Something to think about...

If you could read the ingredient labels for your favorite fine dining choices, do you think you'd be happy with your selection? It's definitely something to ponder...

Buffaloberries™ Menu Items Do Not Contain Artificial Trans Fats.

Simply put, Buffaloberries™ select ingredients do not contain artificial trans fats or other toxic ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, monosodium glutamate (MSG), aspartame, saccharin, cyclamates, animal by-products, artificial hormones, antibiotics, or high levels of pesticides.

We spent hundreds of hours researching our select ingredients and suppliers to bring our customers the highest quality menu items at the lowest possible price.  Many of our ingredients are ordered directly from producers. Most of the rest are purchased through UNFI, the leading independent national distributor of natural, organic, and specialty foods in the United States.

When you eat at Buffaloberries™, you know the ingredients have been carefully selected to enhance not health, not to cause harm.