Here is a summer car journey quiz. As the main prize, the first passenger who can answer the following questions will not be forced to eat one of the new super-duper oversized hamburgers now on sale at fast-food restaurants everywhere:
What ingredient is used to extend the shelf life of products such as cakes, pastries and margarine?
What ingredient can turn oily foods into semi-solid foods?
What ingredient can raise levels of "bad" cholesterol?
Answer to all questions, just in case you didn't already know: trans fats, also known as trans fatty acids.
These are created through partial hydrogenation, a process where hydrogen atoms are added to fatty acids. Yum.
They have absolutely no nutritional benefit at all. On the contrary, they are actively dangerous to your health.
U.S. researchers have established that a mere 2-percent rise in the calorific intake from trans fats is associated with a 23-percent increase in the occurrence of coronary heart disease.
The only people they benefit are the manufacturers of processed foods. By adding trans fats to them, these are guaranteed an increased shelf life.
So Americans should be proud of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's recent initiative to let consumers make wise dietary choices by requiring labels to identify the existence in processed foods of saturated fats and trans fats, as well as the dietary cholesterol level.
It's the envy of Britain, where -- except in the case of a specific health claim -- nutritional information labeling is left to the food manufacturer.
In an article in the latest British Medical Journal, researchers from the University of Oxford write that to help reduce coronary heart disease, food labels should be required to list any "hidden" fats.
Consumers, they assert, should be able to assess readily the amount of trans fats in their foods.
Dr. Robert Clarke, honorary consultant in public health at the University of Oxford, told the BBC: "It is difficult for the layman to make informed choices about what he or she eats if they do not know what is in their food."
But Americans shouldn't feel quite so safe.
News from the Senate last week shows there are always those who want to block good legislation.
The National Uniformity for Food Act is the gremlin of the moment. Should it pass, it would overturn hundreds of food safety laws across the country, key among them California's Proposition 65.
This is a law protecting consumers through specific food labeling requirements. Labels on soda bottles, ceramic tableware, crystalware and calcium supplements, among other products, forced producers to declare any presence of lead.
The result has been the reduction in levels of lead contamination in the products, or in their actual withdrawal.
Stores selling fresh fish are obliged to warn pregnant women of the dangers of high levels of mercury in seafood.
If the law goes through, these protections would no longer be required. States that want to enforce food safety regulations stronger than those required by the federal government would no longer be able to do so.
It may be that the efforts of states acting to limit the sale of junk food and sodas in public schools would be restricted.
Processing waivers is an expensive business. At least 300 are anticipated for Proposition 65 alone, at a cost, the Center for Science in the Public Interest calculates, of at least $120 million to the Food and Drug Administration.
It would be far simpler if labeling requirements could be standardized -- not just nationally but internationally.
What is baffling is why this proposed new legislation seeks to level down, not level up. What is the argument against requiring labels that would inform and protect consumers in the most comprehensive and effective manner possible?
Trans fats occur naturally in small amounts in dairy products, so don't necessarily omit the table cream in this Danish summer dessert.
-- Rødgrød
-- Serves 6
-- 1 pound fresh raspberries
-- 2 tablespoons sugar
-- 2 tablespoons arrowroot
-- table cream for pouring
-- Put the raspberries and sugar in a heavy bottomed pan and leave over low heat to draw all the juices.
-- Press through a fine sieve to remove the seeds. You should get around 2¼ cups of purée.
-- Pour it back into the cleaned pan and bring gently to the boil.
-- Mix the arrowroot with a little cold water to thin then pour into the puree, stirring constantly.
-- Reduce heat at once and continue stirring until the puree thickens, then pour into 6 wine glasses, chill in the refrigerator and top with a little table cream to serve.
-- If you can find them, this is more traditionally made with redcurrants.
