Prudence I Write

SEATTLE - Barb French has three good reasons
to be happy Starbucks is banning artery-clogging trans fats from its
food: her own health and the health of her two young daughters.

"I
like my arteries, and I like theirs," French said Tuesday, as Adele
Matter, 6, and her sister Daphne, 5, munched on a chewy rice cereal
square in a Starbucks store here.

Starting Wednesday, all
donuts, muffins and other treats sold in half of Starbucks Corp.’s
standalone U.S. stores will be completely free of trans fats, the
company said.

The world’s largest specialty coffee retailer
hopes to cut trans fats from the rest of its U.S. and Canadian stores
by the end of the year, spokesman Brandon Borrman said.

"Our focus has always been on providing our customers with healthy and nutritious food options," he said.

Trans
fats, listed on food labels as partially hydrogenated vegetable oil,
are thought to boost "bad" cholesterol and decrease "good" cholesterol.

The
fats have attracted attention from health regulators, most notably in
New York, where city officials have approved a ban on trans fats in
restaurants and eateries.

Borrman said Starbucks’ move was not
prompted by the New York ban. "This is something we’ve been working on,
on our own, for a couple of years now," he said.

Company-owned
Starbucks stores in Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, San
Diego, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Portland,
Ore. will have zero trans fats in their food as of Wednesday, Borrman
said.

Getting the other half of those 5,600 company-owned stores
to follow suit will take some time, as the company adjusts recipes with
regional bakers and food suppliers.

Starbucks also licenses
about 3,200 stores that are operated by other businesses, such as
kiosks in airports and grocery stores. The company hopes to move those
stores’ menus to zero trans fats this year.

However, Starbucks
already had quietly replaced the fats in its nationally distributed
food products, such as its seasonal pumpkin muffins and gingerbread,
Borrman said.

Starbucks said it hasn’t heard many complaints
about those items’ taste, and the company hopes that the only thing
tipping customers off to the recipe change will be signs announcing the
switch.

"We’ve worked diligently to make sure we’re making this
conversion while keeping the same high quality that our customers
expect," Borrman said.

He was unsure of trans-fat plans for
locations outside the U.S. and Canada, but said stores in some
countries already operate under local trans fat regulations. The
Seattle-based company has more than 12,400 stores worldwide.

Some food makers stopped using trans fats voluntarily after the FDA began requiring trans-fat content on food labels.

Wendy’s
International Inc. introduced a zero-trans fat oil in August. Yum
Brands Inc.’s KFC and Taco Bell said they also will cut the trans fats
from many foods in their kitchens.

McDonald’s has experimented
with healthier oil blends for its french fries and has vowed to be
ready for New York’s ban, which takes effect for restaurant fryers on
July 1.

Starbucks posted net fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of
$117.3 million in October, on revenue of $2 billion. Stock markets were
closed Tuesday in observance of former President Ford’s funeral.

from yahoo.com news