If the city's health department has it's way, trans fat in restaurants could go the way of the dodo bird -- extinction.

Newsday's Melanie Lefkowitz reported today that the Department of Health took the first step toward banning nearly all of the heart-harming fats from city restaurants by July 2008.

Trans fat, most commonly an artificial fat generally added to food to increase its shelf life, is considered to be the most dangerous fat because it increases the "bad" kind of cholesterol while decreasing the "good" kind.

The proposal would make New York City the first municipality in the United States to ban partially hydrogenated fats, or artificialtrans fats, in its restaurants. Chicago has been considering a similar plan that I blogged about in July. (Drop the trans fat or you're under arrest)

If approved, the rule, which would be enforced by health inspectors, would require all restaurants to switch to oil, margarine and shortening with less than .5 grams of trans fats per serving by July 1, 2007; and to do the same with all food items by July 1, 2008.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com