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A spike in food prices is spurring some restaurants to switch back to cooking oils containing trans fats and driving up prices for menu items across the country, according to industry members who warn that the problem is likely to get worse before it gets better.
There has been a significant push across Canada to get restaurants and food manufacturers to eliminate the use of hydrogenated oils, which contain trans fats and may pose an increased risk of heart disease and other health problems.
But an increasing number of restaurants are finding it tough to use healthier alternatives, including canola and other vegetable oils, which have been steadily rising in cost in recent months. Some restaurants and industry associations say prices for various types of vegetable oils have risen from 10 to 50 per cent in the past few months, and expect they will continue to go up as demand increases.
"We started getting phone calls. Approximately 20 restaurants have indicated they're having difficulty or they're switching to a shortening," said Robert Greene, program resource manager of Effective Resource Management Inc., which collects used vegetable oils from restaurants to convert into alternative fuels. "It's usually the smaller restaurants that are having the difficulties."
Trans fats, which are typically cheaper than vegetable-based oils, occur naturally in some animals. But most are created by hydrogenation, an industrial process in which liquid oils are turned into semi-solid fats such as margarine and shortening.
Mr. Greene didn't disclose which restaurants are switching to hydrogenated oils for fear the public would ostracize them, but said the company is working on plans to help them avoid using cooking oils that are cheaper but less healthy.
But the situation reflects a larger problem that is taking shape across Canada as restaurants and other food providers struggle to cope with sharp increases in the price of cooking oil, a base ingredient in many menu items.
"Absolutely, it is a challenge," said Tony Elenis, president and chief executive officer of the Ontario Restaurant Hotel & Motel Association.
Although he has not witnessed a widespread move back to cheaper hydrogenated oils, Mr. Elenis said it may be inevitable for some members of the industry if prices continue to climb.
"It's going to be a threat. It all depends on each individual business," he said. "If that becomes a long-term item, then some of our smaller restaurants might look at this business model [of using non-hydrogenated vegetable oils] as very hard to move forward with."
Many restaurants are instead jacking up prices in order to deal with the rising price of cooking oil, in addition to higher costs for grain and other menu staples, according to one company that processes and distributes canola oil.
"We've seen restaurants, unfortunately, they don't like doing it, but they have to put their prices up or else they go out of business," said Lloyd Watt, manager of food service in British Columbia for Canbra Foods Ltd. "Their food costs have just probably gone right through the roof."
The problem of rising cooking oil prices is affecting the entire restaurant industry and is being felt particularly hard by pubs that specialize in deep-fried wings and French fries, said Jim Vasilakakos, manager of the Groundhog Pub in Toronto.
"We've been sort of pummelled in some ways from all different sectors here," he said. "We don't go through as much oil as some of my competitors. However, everything seems to cost [more] to a certain degree."
Mr. Vasilakakos said high prices may force some restaurants to give up using vegetable oils in favour of cheaper alternatives.
"It wouldn't surprise me if they hadn't switched in the first place," he said.
The Canola Council of Canada said that while it's getting more expensive to use vegetable-based oils, restaurants probably wouldn't save that much money if they decided to switch back to oils containing trans fats.
"There's probably not a lot of opportunity for substituting oils because all of the oils are expensive," said Dave Hickling, the council's vice-president of canola utilization.
