Washington Gets Good Press In Chicago

Washington State Potato Commission received good coverage of its healthier french fry cooking oil at last week's National Restaurant Association convention in Chicago.

The Chicago Sun Times did an article on the new Natreon oil which has been developed by Dow AgroSciences.

The report stated that the Commission served up batches of fries cooked in Natreon, a new canola oil that Dow researchers say is free of trans fats and low in saturated fats.

Dow has been perfecting the oil for more than six years, the report stated, and is starting to make the oil available for commercial use, said Dow representative Pablo Ilarregui. The company plans to develop a bottled version for grocery stores.

Natreon oil has no trans fats and containss less saturated fat and more monounsaturated fat, said Sannen Bornsenof the WSPC.

It has a light flavor and lasts longer at high temperatures, something fast-food chains look for in their frying oils.  "We see it as the perfect intersection between health and something that can be used by the big food companies," Ilarregui said.

Natreon isn't the first of its kind. Archer Daniels Midland launched its NovaLipid line of zero and reduced trans fat oils last year--but its introduction reflects the push by companies to face the food industry's latest enemy: trans fats.

Because the Food and Drug Administration has ordered that all food labels list trans fat content by Jan. 1, 2006, companies such as Frito Lay and Kraft have responded by removing trans fasts from someof their snack foods.

Small amounts of trans-fatty acids, or trans fats, occur naturally in beef and dairy foods. It is the man-made trans fats--created during a process called
hydrogenation--that health experts and now the government warn against.