AUSTIN, Texas—Texas State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh (D-El Paso), has filed a bill that proposes a ban on the sale of food that contain trans fats in such foods as shortening and margarine, as well as banning use of trans fats in restaurants.
New York City and cities in Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Maryland have voted to ban trans fats in foodservice. California instituted the first statewide ban of the fats last July. Shapleigh notes that this measure, which will be open to debate during the Texas state legislative session beginning in January, was modeled after the California ban.
The proposed legislation would begin to take effect in 2010.