Tasty Alternatives

It took Anna’s of North America three years of research and preparation before they were ready to go trans fat free in 2007, says the cookie manufacturer’s general manager, Mike Bannister. “Our target consumer is over the age of 40 and the trans fat issue hit the demographic hard. We felt it was something we had to do.”

Based on an 80-year-old recipe for crispy ginger cookies, the company had their margarine supply reformulated so their seven varieties of cookies would have the same shelf life as before the change.

Duane Horpinuk, senior manager of food and beverages at the Calgary Stampede, works next to an 8,000 square-foot kitchen that produces everything from salad dressings to onion rings for the exhibition. The Calgary Stampede normally goes through 20,000 litres of oil a year. In 2006, the kitchen staff spent six months experimenting with new trans fat free oils. They wanted their top-selling fast foods, French fries and onion rings, to have the familiar crispy flavour. They found a high-stability, trans fat free canola oil called Nutra-Clear. “Our staff were the taste testers,” Horpinuk says. “Thanks to them we found a taste that worked.”