JWU announced that it will eliminate the use of artificial trans fats from its culinary and baking & pastry curricula, student dining services, as well as its owned and operated hotels and commercial bakeshop by the spring of 2008.
In addition to its revised curriculum, JWU has pledged to remove artificial trans fats from meals served in university dining centers on its four campuses, as well as from its owned and operated hotels and commercial bakeshop, which serve as training facilities for students enrolled in its College of Culinary Arts and Hospitality College.
While artificial trans fats are more easily replaced in cooking oils, the food service industry has more recently introduced suitable, trans fat free replacement products for baking and pastry recipes that require shortening and frostings. In turn, faculty and staff at JWU’s College of Culinary Arts have successfully reformulated all of the recipes included in its proprietary baking & pastry textbook, with the revised, printed version to be available to students starting in September 2008.
“Numerous research studies have conclusively documented the significant negative health implications associated with the consumption of artificial trans fats,” said Karl Guggenmos, university dean of culinary education. “Therefore, as a leading educator of future chefs and executives of the food service and hospitality industries, we feel it is our responsibility to replace artificial trans fats with alternatives that provide an equivalent quality of taste and consistency.”