The Calgary Health Region may require city eateries to eliminate trans fats from their menus in order to get an operating permit.

Health officials in Calgary are pushing ahead with a plan to ban the artery-clogging fats in restaurants by October 2008, a move that would be a first in Canada.

Dr. Brent Friesen, the region's chief medical officer of health, said Tuesday that a total ban is a realistic prospect for Calgary's eateries.

"The major approach that we're looking at right now is attaching conditions to the food permits that the health region issues to all the food establishments in our region. And those conditions would restrict the use of trans fats."

At the health region's board meeting Tuesday night, board members voted to meet with the public, restaurant owners and different levels of government to discuss the proposed ban.

Mark Von Schellwitz, a spokesman with the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, said Calgary's plan to go it alone is flawed.

He supports moves for a national trans fat ban in 2010, which he said would be much easier than "individual municipalities going on their own timelines and imposing their own rules."

"It's just a red tape nightmare. It's much easier to do this all together," he said.

Can lead to heart disease

Trans fats raise the levels of low-density lipoprotein or "bad" cholesterol in the body and can lead to clogged arteries and heart disease.

Trans fats, initially believed to be a cheaper and healthier alternative to butter and lard, are created when liquid oils are turned into solids.

Under current regulations, companies are required to list trans fats along with other nutritional information on all pre-packaged foods and drinks — but restaurants and bakeries do not have to disclose any nutritional information, including whether their products contain trans fats.

In June 2006, Health Canada and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada chaired a joint task force on the issue of trans fat. The task force noted that 22 per cent of the average trans fat intake is provided by foods consumed away from home, usually in fast-food restaurants.

New York was the first city in America to ban trans fats from restaurants and Calgary has been consulting with health officials in that city.

Eating establishments in the U.S. city will have until July 2007 to stop using cooking oils that contain trans fats and until July 2008 to eliminate artificial trans fats from all of their foods.