The convenience store in the EMU is phasing out products containing trans fats, following media attention about their health risks.
Trans fats, artificial fats linked to bad cholesterol, gained national attention this year when the federal Food and Drug Administration began requiring companies to list trans fats on packaging. New York City officials have discussed a city-wide ban of the fats, and Chicago is considering similar action.
ASUO Senate President and EMU Board member Sara Hamilton brought the discussion to the EMU Board earlier this month. EMU Food Service Director John Costello has since explored the amount of trans fats available for sale in the EMU and has begun talking with suppliers about how to reduce, or even eliminate, foods containing trans fats offered in the building.
Costello said most of the trans fats found in the EMU are in baked goods.
“We found there’s probably no more than 7 to 8 percent that had any trans fats,” Costello said. “If we can get that down to zero, that would be a great goal, and I think we can.”
The EMU’s Union Market is voluntarily ridding its shelves of foods with trans fats. Student concern sparked the move to examine food containing the artificial fat, said Food Service Coordinator Kimberly Shore.
Shore said the convenience store inventoried products with trans fats listed on the label and those with no indication of whether trans fats could be found in them. In some cases, the store was able to get a refund. Other products are on sale in a special area and will be phased out once the current stock is gone.
“We decided it was something we didn’t want to offer,” Shore said.
The market found 16 products that listed trans fats. It has stopped ordering them and has found similar products as replacements.
“We talked to vendors that had trans fats and let them know, if they don’t remove them completely, we will pull their products from the store,” Shore said.
Costello said the progress throughout the rest of the EMU requires reaching up the supply chain to persuade companies to change ingredients.
But he has found that the food industry has already started to eliminate trans fats from products, and he believes the market will drive the food industry to eliminate trans fats regardless of the price increases that may occur as a result.
If suppliers continue to use trans fats, Costello said, “they will find themselves out in the cold.”
Hamilton said she was impressed with the way a mere suggestion of a trans fats ban has been tackled by the EMU.
“It shows that the University of Oregon has always been willing to take extra steps to be on the cutting edge,” she said.
Hamilton said she and Costello are considering further action, such as taking the idea to other Pacific-10 Conference schools.
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