Lab: N.Y. eateries violate trans-fat limit

NEW YORK, July 5 (UPI) -- Several top New York eateries allegedly were selling items that violated the city's new trans-fat limit, a laboratory has found.

Tests performed by New Jersey's Alliance Technologies allegedly found that items sold at restaurants such as Veniero's and Ferrara's had more than .5 grams of trans fat, the current limit for food in the city, the New York Daily News reported Friday.

The new regulation on all bakery items went into effect Tuesday, nearly a year after trans-fat limits were instituted for all fried foods sold in the city.

Most food establishment owners whose sites had the alleged violations told the newspaper they would investigate how the new regulation had been violated.

"I can control what I make, but when you buy something from a supplier, you depend on them," Veniero's owner Robert Zerilli said.

"I'm blown away by this," Ferrara's President Ernesto Lepore said. "I don't understand why trans-fat is turning up."

The Daily News said Health Department officials plans on focusing their monitoring efforts of eateries by checking ingredient labels rather than testing various products.