Aiming to cut the level of obesity and cardiovascular disease, British Columbia is banning artery-clogging transfats from food preparation in B.C. schools by 2010.
"I think that the schools generally aren't using trans fats in their preparation but you know we'll make sure that that's the case,'' said B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell.
While the ban is still two years away, CTV recently took a closer look at what is being served up in provincial schools.
To assist CTV with the investigation, students delivered six randomly selected popular meals from two high school cafeterias in Greater Vancouver.
The meals included a burger, and curly fries, the type of food that is typically served in a cafeteria as well as a Caesar salad from Fraser Heights Secondary School in Surrey, B.C.
CTV was also served a noodle stir fry, popcorn chicken and french fries from Kitsilano Secondary School in Vancouver.
Those meals were taken to a laboratory to have their transfat content analyzed.
The results turned out to be reassuring.
The transfat content in all of those meals turned out to be less than 0.1 per cent, an amount that is well within the range that Health Canada considers to be healthy.
"Kudos to these cafeterias for having no or little transfats,'' said Patricia Chuey, a Vancouver dietician.
Still, while school cafeterias are becoming transfat free, experts say they need to focus on the overall quality of food that children are eating for good health.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Dr. Rhonda Low.
