Bakery desserts are about to get a tad healthier, perhaps.
California's precedent-setting ban on trans fats, imposed on restaurants last year, will extend to bakeries beginning Jan. 1.
The one-year adjustment period for businesses that deep-fry yeast dough or cake batter was part of Assembly Bill 97, proposed in 2008 by Democratic Assemblyman Tony Mendoza of Artesia.
Restaurants were required to stop using trans fats last January under AB 97, which made California the first state to ban use of the cooking substance tied to coronary heart disease and a host of other health problems.
Though bakeries were not targeted by the law until 2011, they clearly knew the state's crackdown was imminent, giving them time to switch gradually this year from artificial trans fats to alternative products.
Known to increase the shelf life and flavor stability of foods, trans fats have been used in some margarines, cookies, crackers and other products made with, or fried in, partially hydrogenated oils.
Businesses that violate AB 97 can be fined up to $1,000.
CAPTION: California bakeries will be banned from using artificial trans fats in treats made of deep-fried yeast dough or batter, including doughnuts, starting Jan. 1. Credit: 2010 file photo of doughnuts. Larry Crowe, Associated Press.
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